14 DAY TRIAL // Officials say that the plane crash that brought on the pilot's death near Lake Tahoe yesterday might have been caused by the heat.
As I reported, 66-year-old Steven Lefton of Palo Alto was steering a Mooney M20 when he lost altitude upon takeoff at South Lake Tahoe Airport. You can watch the unfortunate fall above.
The Epoch Times writes that heat might have been a factor in bringing down the 40-year-old, single-engine aircraft.
“It’s a fairly powerful plane, but on a hot day like this it’s fairly easy to lose density altitude and have problems,” El Dorado County sheriff’s Lt. Pete Van Arnum says.
Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration has described the plane as “destroyed.”
This story is still developing, but I will keep you updated as the official cause of the crash is found.