Updated at 3 p.m. Sunday
The three people killed Saturday when their small plane crashed into a hillside in the Sycamore Canyon Open Space Preserve were a family from Phoenix, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office.
The pilot was 65-year-old William Stern Jr., traveling with his 53-year-old wife Jennifer Stern and 19-year-old daughter Katelyn Stern, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office.
Jennifer Stern was the front-seat passenger in the single-engine Lancair aircraft, and her daughter was in the back seat. Their deaths were confirmed by rescue crews at the scene of the crash about three miles north of Santee.
The plane was headed for Deer Valley Airport in Phoenix after departing from Montgomery Field.
A hiker said he saw the plane fall from the sky around 10:15 a.m. Saturday in a remote area west of state Route 67. The plane was a homemade model and part of the country’s amateur-built fleet.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
