Pilot who died in fiery crash at Novato airfield identified
Authorities in Marin County have identified the pilot who was flying the small plane that crashed at Gnoss Field in Novato Saturday afternoon.
The Marin County Sheriff's Office said a Meyers Aero Commander 200D airplane crashed into a hangar shortly after takeoff around 3:50 p.m. Saturday and caught fire. Authorities later confirmed the pilot had died in the crash.
On Tuesday, the coroner division of the sheriff's office confirmed the decedent was identified as 75--year-old Redding resident Jeffrey Buren Khahling.
After the crash Saturday, arriving units saw that the airplane and the hangar were entirely engulfed in flames. Initially, authorities did not know there were any occupants still inside the airplane.
Fire personnel arrived and began to extinguish the flames to the airplane, hangar and the vegetation fire that started in the brush surrounding the area. Bystanders told fire personnel there were fuel tanks in the airfield's neighboring hangars that were additional hazards.
The sheriff said the single-engine airplane was completely burned, killing the sole occupant and occupant.
Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are both looking into the deadly plane crash. The airplane wreckage was relocated to a secured facility for further investigation by the NTSB.