A passing driver pulled the pilot’s body from the wreckage in an attempt to save him, but it was too late. Ted Chen reports Feb. 19, 2021.
An investigation was scheduled to get underway Saturday into the crash of a single-engine plane into a cargo container yard at the Port of Los Angeles that killed the pilot and seriously injured a man on the ground.
The pilot was later identified as Larry Edward Voit, according to the coroner's office.
The crash occurred about noon Friday in the 2500 block of South Navy Way, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported. The plane, a Piper PA-32, struck a tractor-trailer on its way down.
A passing driver pulled the pilot's body from the wreckage in an attempt to save him, but it was too late, officials said.
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"There was a heroic truck driver that stopped his vehicle, got out and started doing CPR on the pilot," David Ortiz of the LAFD said.
It was not immediately clear what led to the crash.
The FAA confirms only the pilot was aboard the plane.
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"This incident is in an isolated area of the Port of L.A. and port operations have not been impacted,'' Margaret Stewart of the LAFD said.
The man on the ground who was injured was 30 years old. The age and identity of the pilot was not immediately available.
The NTSB says the plane left Zamperini Field in Torrance about 45 minutes before the crash.
The crash will be investigated by the Federal Aviation Authority and the National Transportation Safety Board, according to an FAA spokesman.
