Pilot Killed in Crash Identified

AGUA DULCE — A pilot who died when his single-engine plane crashed into a hillside near Agua Dulce Airport was identified Sunday as a 49-year-old Santa Paula man, Los Angeles County coroner officials said.

Robert Kelsey had left Santa Paula Airport on Friday night to visit his girlfriend in Phoenix, an older brother said.

“You never expected him to go and never come back. Let’s face it, nobody expects this to happen,” said Donald Kelsey, 51, of Santa Paula. “It was bad timing for him to go.”

Kelsey said his brother was an experienced pilot who had been flying for several years.

For the past 20 years, Robert Kelsey owned and operated Kelsey Automobiles, an auto service and repair business in Ventura, Donald Kelsey said.

On Friday, Robert Kelsey left Santa Paula Airport about 8 p.m., piloting his BE35 Beechcraft Bonanza en route to an airport in Chandler, Ariz.

By Saturday, relatives became concerned when they had not heard from him, and FAA officials were notified of the missing plane about 7 a.m.

Officials said they were alerted to the crash site by a woman who had looked out of her kitchen window and saw the downed plane near the 7700 block of Chambord Drive.

The plane’s wreckage was found about three miles southeast of Agua Dulce Airport, and Kelsey was pronounced dead at the scene.

Aviation officials are still trying to determine the cause of the crash. Kelsey had not contacted air controllers while flying that day, officials said. The National Transportation Safety Board is handling the investigation.

Kelsey is survived by a daughter, an ex-wife, his mother and two brothers.