MURRIETA, Calif.—A 76-year-old Colorado man was piloting an experimental plane that crashed while approaching an airfield, killing himself and a passenger, Riverside County authorities said Saturday.
Leroy Poulin of Monument, Colo., was killed shortly before noon Friday along with Francisco Javier Arteaga, 37, of Rancho Cucamonga, county coroner’s officials said.
The kit-built Lancair Legacy, a two-seater, had just left French Valley Airport when it crashed about two miles north of the airfield, said Ian Gregor of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Both men were flung from the plane and pronounced dead at the scene, county fire information officer Sean Dakin said.
The aircraft was destroyed. There was no fire and no one on the ground was hurt.
Witnesses said the plane revved its engine and appeared to turn over before crashing.
“It looked like it just rolled and then it did a nosedive,” said David Borel, who was working in a vineyard south of the airfield.
“I was thinking he was just doing a barrel roll, but as soon as he went upside down, he went down,” said Nathan Abeel, 25, of Temecula, who was about a half-mile from the crash site.
Murrieta is in Riverside County, about 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
