A plane that crashed into ocean south of San Francisco on Sunday was a light aircraft that can be built from a kit, authorities have said.
Officials also said on Tuesday that they had identified a body that was found in the water near where the Cozy Mark IV plane crashed as a 27-year-old San Francisco resident.
The crash was reported about 7pm on Sunday by a 911 caller who said the single-engine plane was in obvious distress and appeared to go down toward the water near Half Moon Bay, according to the San Mateo county sheriff’s office.
The woman’s body was spotted on Monday morning floating in the water nearby by the crew of a commercial fishing boat. The San Mateo county coroner’s office identified her as Emma Willmer-Shiles, 27, of San Francisco.
It was not immediately known if the woman was on the aircraft, but the sheriff’s office said in a statement that “it is thought she is likely associated with the plane crash given she was located in the same location.”
Officials initially believed two people had been onboard the plane, but the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement on Tuesday that “reports indicate the plane was carrying the pilot and three other people.”
The US Coast Guard said a helicopter and boat crew looked in a 28-square mile (73-square-kilometer) area for nearly six hours before calling off the search around mid-morning on Monday. Willmer-Shiles’s body was found a few hours later.
A witness, Melissa Richter, told KRON-TV she was dining on a patio at Moss Beach Distillery when she heard an engine losing power, “like you hear in the movies, when a plane is about to crash”. Richter said the plane came over the top of the building and she heard the engine cut out before it went out of sight.
The NTSB said its investigators arrived on scene on Tuesday to document the wreckage and interview witnesses. A preliminary report is expected within 30 days.
