Plane Crash on Mt. Diablo

A small plane crashed on the slopes of Mount Diablo on Friday, killing the pilot, who is believed to have been the only person on board, authorities say.

The downed single-engine Mooney M20 aircraft was discovered Saturday 2 miles southwest of the Contra Costa County peak, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane crashed and burned sometime Friday night.

The pilot, whose identity was not provided by authorities, was flying from Hayward to Lincoln (Placer County), Gregor said. A family member reported on Saturday that the aircraft hadn’t landed as scheduled.

California State Parks officials, who manage Mount Diablo as a park, confirmed that the pilot had died. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board were planning to investigate the incident. It typically takes a year or more to determine the cause of a crash, Gregor said.

source: SF Chronical