Two Killed In Plane Wreck

Two San Andreas men were killed Wednesday when their light plane crashed shortly after takeoff from the Calaveras County Airport.

Pilot Henry Taylor Howard, 70, and his stepson, 37-year-old Brian Files were pronounced dead at the scene of the 1:05 p.m. accident.

A third man, sitting in a back seat, was MediFlighted to Doctors Medical Center in Modesto. His name was not released and his condition not available Wednesday.

According to Calaveras County Sheriff’s Sgt. Kevin Anderson, the single-engine Beechcraft went down shortly after takeoff, crashing at a steep angle into a rocky field of a nearby ranch.

Anderson said he wasn’t sure if the plane made any emergency radio contact before crashing.

“There were a few witnesses and we´re talking to them to see what they saw and heard,” he said.

Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration were on their way Wednesday afternoon to begin their investigation into the crash.

FAA records show that the Beechcraft was registered to Howard and Howard Engineering.