All Passengers Dead in California Plane Crash, Second in the Area within a Week

• Six people sadly lost their lives after their plane crashed trying to land.
• Some of those who passed on were a husband and his wife who lived in Temecula.
• Just days before, another aircraft crashed in the same area, taking one person's life.

On July 8, 2023, a Cessna C550 business jet crashed close to Murrieta, California's French Valley Airport, killing six people. The incident was the second one at the airstrip in less than a week and occurred around 4:15 a.m.

The plane carrying six passengers took off from Las Vegas' Harry Reid International Airport and crashed onto a field and burst into flames as it attempted to land at the French Valley Airport.

The occupants were pronounced dead at the scene, and the Riverside County Fire Department had to extinguish a small bushfire caused by the blaze within an hour. The pilot was a certified commercial flyer, and all the other passengers were adults.

On Saturday morning, the jet took off amidst a heavy fog which caused poor visibility, and it's believed it might have been the reason the aircraft missed the runway by several hundred yards. At one point while trying to land, the pilot told air traffic control he would perform a "missed approach." Pilots resort to this maneuver when they can't see the runway clearly.

After failing in his first attempt, preliminary reports revealed the pilot made a second approach at around 4:15 a.m. before crashing around 500 feet short of the runway.

Most of the airplane had been engulfed by flames when authorities arrived. The National Transportation Safety Board said a "marine layer" of fog descended upon the runway, and it was a frequent occurrence in the area. Patrick O'Neil, manager of Moon Valley Nurseries in Murrieta, noted:

"It's almost like a whiteout if you're in the hills."

O'Neil said one couldn't see two to five feet ahead, and it was like driving blindfolded. The incident is currently being investigated, using the audio tapes between the pilot and air traffic control. The identities of those who died in the crash have been revealed.

Who Are the People Who Died in the Plane Crash?

The day after the crash, the identities of the six people who died on what was supposed to be a 45-minute flight were revealed. The Riverside County Sheriff's Office shared that Manuel Vargas-Regalado, 32, of Temecula, and Riese Lenders, 25, of Rancho Palos Verdes, were two pilots who died that day.

The passengers were Huntington Beach's Lindsey Gleiche, 31, Murrieta's Abigail Tellez-Vargas, 33, Temecula's Ibrahem Razick, 46, and Alma Razick, 51. The Rancho Christian Elementary Facebook page revealed that Mr. and Mrs. Razick were parents of four students at the school.

The Hyundai or Kia page in Yuma also paid tribute to Ibrahem, noting that he owned the company. Several photos of the businessman were also shared, and he was wished an easy rest.

The MRT Off-Road Team Facebook page honored Lenders with a throwback picture of him in the cockpit of a plane and said he'd be remembered as a friend, pilot, and a "great man."

The three passengers on the flight were his three sons...

J. Mitchell Kyle also took to Facebook to mourn Gleiche's death and urged others to make things right with their loved ones; otherwise, they might never get the chance.

Another Crash in the Same Area Days Before

On July 4, 2023, three people ended up in the hospital with injuries, and one was killed after a single-engine Cessna 172 crashed in western Riverside County. The plane crashed after 2 p.m. in Murrieta near the French Valley Airport.

The small plane went down east of the airport's runway shortly after taking off. Out of the four people on the aircraft, one died at the scene, and investigations are being conducted to determine the cause of the crash.

Jared Newman, 39, the pilot, was flying with his sons before their aircraft crashed and took his life. The man from Temecula was "newly certified" on June 9, 2023, as a private pilot.

The three other passengers on the flight were his three sons, Connor, Caleb, and Elijah, who all "miraculously" survived. The boys were in "stable" condition at San Diego's Rady Children's Hospital.

A GoFundMe fundraiser, with a total goal of $100,000, was created to assist Jared's widow. Meghan, with expenses for the funeral, her children's medical bills, and her survival as a single mother. By July 10, 2023, $88,429 had been donated by the community and others.

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