3 dead after plane crashes off Monterey County coast

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FILE-The U.S. Coast Guard helicopter flies overhead. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images)

PACIFIC GROVE, Calif. - A small plane carrying three people crashed off of the coast near Monterey on Saturday night, after departing San Carlos Airport.

The U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement that a twin-engine Beechcraft with the tail number N8796R had crashed around 10:55 p.m. on Saturday about 200 to 300 yards off of Point Pinos, near Pacific Grove and less than five miles away from Monterey.

The Coast Guard also learned that three people were aboard the plane when it crashed, and launched a 29-foot response boat that arrived at the scene of the crash about 15 minutes later. A helicopter from the Coast Guard in San Francisco was also launched to assist in the search.

Authorities reported that they located the plane and two people who were found "unresponsive." The Coast Guard did not elaborate on their conditions.

The Coast Guard later confirmed the third person had been recovered, and search operations were over.

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office identified the occupants of the plane as 60-year-old Steve Eugene Clatterbuck, 36-year-old James Vincent of Monterey and 44-year-old Jamie Lee Tabscott of Monterey.

Residents witness crash

Multiple search and rescue teams, including the U.S. Coast Guard and Cal Fire, responded to the scene late Saturday night to recover the victims and debris.

"I watched it fly across the sky, and all of a sudden it just went straight down like at a 90-degree angle, boom into the water. It really shocked me," said Linda Decker, who lives in Pacific Grove.

Flight data from FlightRadar24 showed the Beechcraft flying at low altitude over downtown Pacific Grove before crashing just before 11 p.m.

"We heard it come around a second time, really low, and the last thing we heard was a thump,"  said Ron Beach, another Pacific Grove resident. "We were worried it hit a house out here or something."

The plane was headed to Monterey Regional Airport. It is registered to SEA2SKY Aviation LLC, a company based in Dover, Delaware.

Aviation expert Mike McCarron said weather conditions could have been a factor.

"The weather, as we've known the past several weeks, we've had very heavy fog along the coast, up and down the coast, and certainly the Monterey area has been exempt for that," McCarron said. 

He added that the NTSB will examine the aircraft’s maintenance history, pilot training records, and any possible mechanical issues as part of its investigation. Beechcraft planes are commonly used and considered reliable by aviation standards.

No official cause of the crash has been released.