MALIBU—A Malibu resident was identified on Thursday, August 4, as the pilot who died earlier this week when his single-engine aircraft lost control and slammed into a concrete building two blocks from the Van Nuys Airport.
Arthur Miles Newman, 78, was pronounced dead at approximately 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 2, when his Aircon-Aircraft Lightning LS-1 crashed into an industrial building, according to the coroner’s office.
Newman was performing “touch-and-go” practice maneuvers at the Van Nuys Airport when he experienced a hard landing; touch-and-go procedures require a pilot to land on a runway and then immediately take off again, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
The hard landing loosened one of the plane’s landing gears, which caused the accident. Newman was headed back to the airport on his final touch-and-go when the plane crashed, a spokesperson for Los Angeles World Airports, which operates Van Nuys Airport, told Canyon News. The wreckage was located near the northeast corner of Hart Street and Valjean Avenue.
The crash is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and a preliminary report is expected to be released next week. Newman was the only person on board and an autopsy is pending. Nobody on the ground was injured.
In June, Newman was inducted into the Federal Aviation Administration’s FAA Airman Certification Database; the database, which can be found on the agency’s website at www.faa.gov, names Newman and other certified pilots who have met or exceeded the high educational licensing and medical standards established by the FAA.
Van Nuys Airport officials have temporarily closed its 4,000-foot training runway.