The pilot who died in the Monday crash of a vintage N9MB Northrop Flying Wing in a Norco prison yard has been identified as David Vopat, 51, of Chino.
The Riverside County Coroner’s office released Vopat’s name early Wednesday afternoon. He died when the historic plane crashed shortly after noon into the yard of the California Rehabilitation Center.
A Northrop N9M Flying Wing, the only one of its kind, crashed into the prison yard at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco on Monday, April 22, 2019. It flew over the Chino Air Show in this 2002 file photo. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
One inmate suffered scratches, but there were no serious injuries to prisoners or staff at the 98-acre facility. Vopat was the only person on board the plane.
The cause of the crash is under investigation. The plane, which was destroyed in the crash, was the last remaining of four models in the N9M series built by Northrop in 1944-45.
The plane was restored and owned by the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino.
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