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Pictures taken Friday August 31, 2007 by Volunteer Member Myrna Bagge. Above right: Live On Attendant Keith Richards, aka The Sorghum King, peers into the crashed plane cockpit. That is Steam Engine Row Volunteer George Bohn's SUV with the front door standing open. The below North County Times article appeared today, Friday September 7, 2007.

VISTA -- Authorities say they now know who owns a stolen plane that crashed in Vista last week, but questions about how the plane got there and who is responsible for the wreck are still up in the air. One week ago, a small aircraft was discovered near the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum on North Santa Fe Road, authorities said. The plane, a Quicksilver GT-500, could have gone down as early as Thursday, according to Federal Aviation Administration safety technician Jim McNamara.

"It's a still a bit of a mystery," McNamara said. "There's no identifying paperwork with the aircraft. We have no report of injuries. ... Based upon the damage to the aircraft, we were surprised we didn't see signs of injury but there were not." Initially, investigators didn't even know who owned the aircraft.

Sgt. David Kurylowicz of the Riverside Sheriff's Department said that two days after the plane was discovered, a Hemet resident called to report the aircraft stolen from a private airfield in that city. "We have some leads we're following," said Kurylowicz, who declined to comment further or release the name of the plane's owner because the investigation is ongoing.

The federal agency is looking into the cause of the crash and whether the agency's rules were broken in connection with the incident, while Riverside and San Diego sheriff's officials have been investigating the theft itself, according to a San Diego sergeant.

Richard von Hirsch, a Quicksilver factory representative, said he had heard of a GT-500 being stolen from Riverside County last week.

Most of the planes are experimental aircraft built from Quicksilver kits that cost about $30,000, von Hirsch said. "There's over 400 of that particular model around ... nationally and internationally," he said. According to von Hirsch, many planes are stored in secured areas. If that security is breached, it can be relatively easy to steal a plane because plane locks are not particularly sophisticated, he said. "They all have very limited security in that it's like a 20- or 30-year-old car -- a thief can steal that pretty easily," von Hirsch said.

There have been at least four other plane crashes in North County since April, when three people were killed after a small plane departing from Carlsbad's McClellan-Palomar Airport crashed into the ocean. In June, a plane crashed on Highway 78, striking a car but not causing major injuries. While no one was hurt in a July crash at the Oceanside Municipal Airport, two men died that month when a plane that had just taken off from Palomar Airport crashed into a new Carlsbad golf course.

The GT-500 from the Vista crash was being held as evidence in the federal investigation, but San Diego sheriff's officials said the plane will be released to the owner who may be able to salvage parts not destroyed in the crash.

-- Contact staff writer Colleen Mensching at or

Events:   Consignment Auctions   Carlsbad Flower Fields  Civil War Re-enactment  Harvest Fair   Hot Blues Engines Festival  School Days   Summergrass San Diego   Visitors  Weddings
Exhibits:  Blacksmith Shop    City of Guajome Gulch    Farmhouse   Gas Engine Row  Gas Tractors   Short Track Model Railroad   Steam Engine Row   Steam Tractors   Weavers    Tree and Garden Club   Missouri Sorghum Company   Indian River Grist Mill