Passport, flight log located near Gilroy plane crash

Bay City News Service

December19, 2006

GILROY (BCN) - Authorities working to extricate a small airplane that crashed into a sewage tank at a Gilroy wastewater treatment facility Monday afternoon have located a flight log and a Japanese passport near the area of the wreckage, the Federal Aviation Administration reports.

According to FAA spokeswoman Diana Joubert, the submerged airplane is believed to be the same twin-engine aircraft reported missing by the San Jose flight school Nice Air at about 5:30 p.m. Monday.

The missing plane had departed Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose at around 1 p.m. Monday and was scheduled to return by about 5 p.m., Joubert said.

A flight instructor and two students - all of whom were Japanese nationals - were reportedly on board the missing plane, according to Joubert.

However, early this morning the missing plane and the plane involved in Monday's sewage treatment facility crash could not be confirmed as the same, Joubert said.

According to police, it could be much later today before crews are able to sufficiently drain the sewage tank enough to identify the aircraft or the passengers believed to be inside.

"We don't know how big the plane is," said Gilroy police Sgt. Kurt Svardal. "It's a sewage treatment tank, so the water isn't clear. You can see some wing parts near the surface."

Around 4 p.m. today, authorities received a report that an airplane had possibly crashed in southern Santa Clara County, the sergeant said.

Svardal said that during the initial search, staff at the South County Regional Wastewater Authority's treatment plant at 1500 Southside Drive in Gilroy noticed damage to railings at the top of one of five holding tanks.

Upon further examination, it was clear an airplane had landed in one of the tanks, Svardal said. He said each tank was 20 feet deep and 25 feet in diameter.

According to Joubert, air traffic controllers had not received any distress calls from a pilot Monday afternoon and that another pilot had reported to the air traffic control center in Oakland that a plane was going down near Gilroy at about 4 p.m.

Investigators from the FAA are expected to examine the crash site later today, Joubert said.

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