Antelope Valley Press February 28, 2006
Identities of plane crash victims released
By Allison Gatlin and James C. Loughrie
CALIFORNIA CITY - The identities of two people killed in a Sunday airplane crash were released by the Kern County Sheriff's Department on Monday.
Terry Fregly, 50, of Tallahasse, Fla., and Skip Robertson, 43, of Klammath Falls, Ore., died when their L-39 military jet aircraft crashed into a mountain seven miles northwest of California City about 8:30 a.m.
The aircraft, destroyed by fire in the accident, was one of three flying on an aerial filming mission, FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer said. The other two aircraft landed without incident at the California City Municipal Airport.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
The aircraft was registered to Mach 1 Aviation of Universal City. Named "Wild Child," the two-seat jet fighter had been featured in television and air show appearances, including the Edwards Air Force Base air show, according to the company's Web site.
The aircraft was a high-speed, high-performance platform for aerial filming, according to the Web site.
Mach 1 Aviation officials could not be reached Monday afternoon.
Reached in Tallahassee on Monday, Fregly's wife told The Associated Press that the Florida real estate developer was a passenger in the two-seat aircraft, which was owned by a friend, and was not handling pilot or photographic duties.
The L-39 Albatros is a jet trainer developed in Czechoslovakia and used by the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia in the 1970s. It is the standard jet trainer used by former Warsaw Pact countries, as well as Afghanistan, Algeria, Ethiopia, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Syria and Vietnam, according to GlobalSecurity.org.
© Copyright 2006, Antelope Valley Press
