Pilot Dies After Homebuilt Plane Crashes at Compton Airport

A small, homebuilt plane spun out of control in the wake of a Long Beach police helicopter and crashed at Compton Airport Friday morning, fatally injuring the pilot, federal aviation officials said.

The pilot was identified as Rajko Roy Medan, 73, of Carson, an experienced flier who worked at the airport as an operations coordinator. Medan owned the high-performance, single-engine Thorp T-18, which was based at the airport.

Donn Walker, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the helicopter was hovering over the airport at 9:53 a.m., practicing emergency landing techniques, when the plane attempted to land beneath it.

Walker said the plane apparently was caught in the downward wash of air from the helicopter’s rotor.

“The Thorp spun around and crashed upside-down on Runway 25 Right,” Walker said. “The plane was severely damaged.”

Walker said bystanders dashed to the fallen plane, righted it and pulled Medan, the only one on board, from the wreckage.

Walker said the rescuers attempted life-saving procedures until an ambulance arrived to transport the pilot to a nearby hospital. Medan died en route to the hospital, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

Compton Airport does not have a control tower, and it is up to pilots to see and avoid one another while utilizing the facility. Pilots are taught to report their positions and flight intentions by radio while operating at or near such airports, but radio communication is not mandatory.

The T-18, like all homebuilt aircraft, is classified as “experimental” by the FAA, but the design of the 200-mph plane, introduced in the early 1960s, has been approved by the FAA and each airplane is thoroughly inspected before it is flown.