Three of the occupants of a Sabreliner twin-engine jet involved in the deadly Aug. 16 plane crash over the Otay Mesa area have been identified, with the identities of the remaining two being withheld pending notification of their families. The identified men are BAE Systems employees John Kovach, Carlos Palos and Jeff Percy, all of Mojave. They were taking part in a customer-training project for the Virginia-based military contractor at the time of the crash.
The fourth man in the twin-engine jet was a contract employee working for the firm. His name and that of the pilot of the private single-engine Cessna 172 craft, being flown on a cross-country trip when the collision occurred, were withheld.
Meanwhile, federal accident investigators are working to determine what led to the crash. The planes collided on approach to Brown Field Municipal Airport shortly after 11 a.m. August 16, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The Cessna went down in an open-space preserve east of state Route 125, and the wreckage of the Sabreliner ended up west of Harvest Road. Wreckage was strewn across a field near R.J. Donovan Correction Center and sparked several brush fires.
A public profile of BAE Systems states that it employs about 3,000 in the San Diego area in shipbuilding; naval-gun development and manufacture; software-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems and other capacities.
– FOX 6