Plane lost 5,600 feet in 10 minutes
The 1973 Cessna 414 piloted by Bay Area resident Scott Shepherd began losing altitude less than 30 minutes before crashing Sunday into a Santa Ana shopping mall and killing all five aboard, according to flight records
Shepherd, an experienced pilot who had bought the plane a couple of years ago, was flying at an altitude of 11,400 feet for most of the flight since taking off from Buchanan Airport in Concord at 10:24 a.m., according to www.flightradar24.com, a Swedishbased online flight information service.
At 12:04 p.m., the plane dropped to 11,300 feet and then began plummeting. At one point, the aircraft lost 5,600 feet in 10 minutes, from 12:13 to 12:23 p.m. Five minutes later it went nose down into the parking lot of a Staples Supercenter, a mile away from John Wayne Airport.
Peter Knudson, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said Tuesday that investigators had wrapped up their probe but have not yet determined what caused the crash. Though Shepherd had declared an emergency, he never said what was wrong, according to the agency.
Also killed in the crash besides Shepherd, 53, were his wife, Lara Shepherd, 42, both of Diablo; Floria Hakimi, 62, of Danville, and her son. Navid Hakimi, 32, of Los Angeles; and Nasim Ghanadan, 30, of Alamo.
All except Scott Shepherd worked for Pacific Union International, a real estate brokerage company with offices in Danville and Southern California, according to a company spokesman. The group was traveling to attend a real estate conference at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Scott Shepherd was president and CEO of Category III Development, a real estate transactions and management company in San Francisco. Attempts to reach the company for comment were unsuccessful.
Shepherd received his private pilot license in 2003 and a new rating in August 2017, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The new rating likely was related to Shepherd’s instrument rating, said Ian Gregor, communications manager for the FAA Pacific Division. An instrument rating essentially enables a pilot to fly in bad weather when unable to navigate visually.
Gregor said there are no restrictions on the number of people a private pilot can fly provided the aircraft is certified to accommodate that number.
Shepherd bought the 1973 Cessna 414 in 2016, said Jerry Temple of Jerry Temple Aviation, Inc., who brokered the sale.
Temple said the seller owned an industrial painting company in Salt Lake City. The plane then was registered to RP Painting and Decorating, Inc. in Salt Lake City, according to FAA records.
“There was nothing unusual about (the sale),” Temple said. “(The pilot) was qualified and completed that training.”
Shepherd had listed his company, Category III Aviation Corp., as the plane’s owner.
The Shepherds both participated in volunteer activities at Green Valley Elementary School in Danville, where their children, 7-year-old son Roark and 5-year-old daughter Ava, are students, according to Elizabeth Graswich, spokeswoman for the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. The school is preparing to begin classes Aug. 13.
The school’s staff and parents have been notified that counseling is available from the San Ramon Valley Unified School District, Graswich said. “Our hearts and sympathies are with the family,” she added.
Another crash victim, Floria Hakimi, was a founder of the Persian Center in Berkeley, which aims to strengthen Persian identity through social and cultural activities.
She was involved with Mothers Against Poverty, Operation Smile, Families Without Borders and the School of Practical Philosophy, according to her profile on the Pacific Union website.
Her son, Navid Hakimi, a 2004 graduate of Monte Vista High School in Danville, was a well-known DJ and producer who performed under the name Navid Izadi. He leaves behind a 2-year-old son.
Nasim Ghanadan, a 2006 graduate of Venture Independent Study in San Ramon, taught children the Farsi language at the Nima Farsi School in Danville and volunteered at Room to Read, a nonprofit focused on girls’ education in San Francisco.