Six people who died last weekend when the light airplane they were in crashed into the ocean off the coast of San Diego have been publicly identified as a husband and wife and four men from the same immediate family.
Killed in the aviation accident roughly three miles west of Point Loma were the pilot of the twin-engine Cessna 414, Landon Baldwin; his spouse, Torrie; and Jeremy Bingham and his adult sons, Ayden, Bailey and Gavin, according to an online fundraising campaign and news reports.
All six were from the Gila Valley area of Arizona, the online Gila Herald news agency reported.
The aircraft went down for unknown reasons about 12:30 p.m. Sunday, shortly after taking off from San Diego International Airport en route to Phoenix, the Federal Aviation Administration reported.
"After receiving instructions to turn ... after departure, the pilot radioed that he struggled to maintain heading and altitude," according to a preliminary report from the Aviation Safety Network. "(Flight surveillance) data show that the aircraft entered a descending left turn, losing 1,900 feet in 13 seconds. The aircraft began to climb again, but (the) data show an erratic altitude and heading until the moment the aircraft impacted the surface of the water, six minutes after it had commenced the takeoff roll."
Search crews found scattered wreckage of the aircraft floating in an area where the water is about 200 feet deep, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said.
Late Tuesday morning, the federal maritime agency suspended its search for the victims' bodies "pending further developments," according to USCG public affairs.
Also participating in the search operations, which took place over about 300 square miles for roughly 35 hours, were Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations, the San Diego Harbor Police Department and city lifeguards.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
