A crashed small airplane was discovered near Mount Wilson in the Angeles National Forest Sunday and a man was found dead on board, authorities said.
The name of the pilot was not released pending notification of next of kin, said Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez of the Sheriff's Information Bureau.
The white Cessna 182 aircraft with blue stripes was located at about 4:30 p.m. at the 4,000-foot level four miles north of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Sgt. M. Zager of the sheriff's Air Operations Bureau said.
The low fog made it difficult to find the aircraft and assess the casualties, the sergeant said.
"(Sheriff's department helicopters) were up intermittently in the afternoon," Zager said.
The plane crashed into a rugged cliff side of Brown Mountain, Navarro- Suarez said.
Authorities received a report about 8:20 a.m. of the plane's disappearance, Capt. Bill Song of the sheriff's Crescenta Valley station said.
Radar data from Flightaware.com showed that the plane departed at 7:37 a.m. Sunday from Montgomery Field in San Diego and was apparently in an approach pattern to Santa Monica Airport when it flew in a straight line to the northeast.
The radar path ended near Mount Wilson.
FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the plane had been en route from Montgomery Field to Santa Monica on an instrument flight plan. It lost contact with ground controllers at about 8:30 a.m. when it was 17 miles east of Van Nuys Airport.
The crash scene was 35 miles northeast of Santa Monica.
The sheriff's department was in contact with the National Transportation Safety Board and was "working on a recovery plan," Zager said.
He did not release the gender nor name of the deceased.
The Cessna's tail number was N133BW, and FAA records indicate it was owned by a San Diego company.
The NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration will investigate, Kenitzer said.
