Authorities Identify 2 People Killed In South Lake Tahoe Plane Crash
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (CBS/AP) - Two people who were killed when the single-engine plane they were in crashed next to a house in South Lake Tahoe shortly after takeoff have been identified.
Conrad Yu, 73, of Oakley and Mary Choy, 66, of San Francisco were killed on October 10 when the four-seater Beech 35 Bonanza crashed and sparked a fire on a side of the house.
The two-story house is less than a mile from the airport, in a semi-rural neighborhood surrounded by pine trees. The crash occurred about 5:40 p.m.
Maja Smith, an aviation accident investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said the plane contained only Yu and Choy.
Ginger Nicolay-Davis, a real estate agent who manages the house as a vacation rental, said two people and a dog inside the house got out safely. No one on the ground was hurt.
"They were sitting there relaxing in the living room and they heard what sounded like a tree had fallen," she said. "They assumed a tree had taken out a power line."
She said fire damage to the house is significant, but it could have been worse given the woodsy location.
She said the pair inside the home, which included San Francisco playwright Rod McFadden, rushed outside without shoes and headed back to San Francisco. McFadden was in town for a three-day word and performance festival on the shores of South Lake Tahoe.
The Federal Aviation Administration, along with the national transportation board, investigated the crash.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
