El Paso - Santa Paula

On October 31, 1987 at 01:30 PM, El Paso - Santa Paula experienced a crash involving Britten-Norman Islander, operated by Southern Cross Aviation, with the event recorded near Desert Center California.

The flight was categorized as delivery and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

2 people were known to be on board, 2 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 1, passenger fatalities: 1, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The pilot was hired to ferry an Islander from El Paso, TX to Santa Paula, CA. He represented himself to the ferry company as being an experienced Islander pilot. No previous Islander flight time was found in the pilot's logbook. It was the pilot's 40th birthday and he was anxious to complete the flight. He neither filed flight plans nor had current charts. Approaching the Chiriaco summit area along I-10 the terrain rose and a ground-based witness reported clouds were low. The pilot continued the westbound flight. Evidence indicated an overstressed aircraft and an in-flight breakup. Both occupants were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration N25MR, MSN 881, year of manufacture 1980.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 33.7401°, -115.3640°.