A pilot and two medical missionaries flying out of Brown Field died yesterday when their small plane crashed about 200 miles south of the U.S-Mexico
border in San Quintin, Baja California, law enforcement authorities said.
The three had taken off from San Diego's Brown Field at 12:30 p.m., and crashed at 1:10 p.m. in an empty lot next to a business, according to a
statement from the Baja California Attorney General's Office.
Witnesses said the plane plunged suddenly after apparently experiencing difficulties, according to the statement. The airplane came apart in the
crash, and two cars in the lot caught fire.
The victims include two Christian missionaries, a nurse and a dentist, who were volunteers at a clinic that serves Indians in the area, a man
identified as Dr. Martin Wayne told Mexican officials. The pilot was identified as Bob McNemy, 57, and the dentist as Merlin Larson, 70. The nurse, a
woman, was identified only with the name Breadney.
Mexican authorities did not say where the people were from and continue to investigate the accident.
Authorities said the plane was a Cessna. But the registration number they gave traces to a Beech aircraft co-owned by Robert McEneany of Las Vegas.
The airplane had been scheduled to land four blocks from the crash site, at the Cipres Military Base, the statement said.
A U.S. group with offices in Chula Vista, Mexican Medical Ministries, operates the La Esperanza clinic in San Quintin. According to the group's Web
site, they had scheduled a fly-in team of volunteers this weekend.
A man who identified himself as Craig at the Chula Vista office said yesterday that they were trying to find out what happened. “We don't have any
information at this time,” he said.BajaNews - 9-9-2006 at 07:43 AM
TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - Two U.S. medical volunteers and their pilot died on Friday when the small plane in which they were traveling crashed near
Mexico's border with the United States, a police spokesman said.
A Mexican police spokesman said the plane blew up on impact with a factory wall near the Mexican city of Ensenada, killing the pilot and his two
passengers, a doctor and a nurse heading further south to provide voluntary medical assistance in the town of San Quintin.
They were part of a two-plane convoy of Christian missionaries from Brownfield, California, the spokesman said, adding that a technical fault was
likely to blame for the crash.David K - 9-9-2006 at 11:02 AM
I was watching a Mexican news channel last night and they had film at the crash site where a plane crashed into a building and parking lot... What I
understood was this was in Ensenada near the airport...Johnny - 9-9-2006 at 11:39 PM
Lo Siento , that is so sad. They must have been needed 'somewhere' else. They are free now.BajaNews - 9-10-2006 at 12:24 AM
A Palm Desert dentist on his way to volunteer was one of three Americans killed in a plane crash in Ensenada, it was reported Saturday.
Merlin Larson, 76, of Palm Desert and nurse Brianne Nicole Shelton, 25, of San Marcos, were en route to Mexico to volunteer with Mexican Medical
Ministries, an organization that provides medical assistance in rural Mexican communities, the Ensenada newspaper El Vigia reported Saturday.
Pilot Robert McEneany, 57, of Las Vegas was also killed.
The group's Beach Bonanza B36 aircraft left Brownfield, Calif. at 12:30 p.m. Friday. Less than an hour later the plane crashed into the wall of a
local factory. The crash also destroyed two vehicles and caused the evacuation of dozens of workers, the paper reported.
The crash occurred just across the street from a memorial honoring six missionaries who were killed in a plane crash under similar conditions, five
years ago, the newspaper reported.
DENNIS - 9-10-2006 at 11:30 AM
That's a spooky coincidenceDianaT - 9-10-2006 at 12:45 PM
It is very sad.
I remember, I think it was in 2004, when an air ambulance coming from Mexico crashed near Brown Field.
Always sad for the loss of life.
It is really strange that two crashed in the same spot.
[Edited on 9-10-2006 by jdtrotter]BajaNomad - 9-10-2006 at 01:33 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by jdtrotter
It is really strange that two crashed in the same spot.
Maybe not so much. I believe that "spot" is
within the vicinity used to approach a nearby airport runway.
Someone else would need to confirm this though.
Nearby Airport
MrBillM - 9-10-2006 at 01:43 PM
The article I read said that they were scheduled to land at a "military" airport a short distance away.
Has anything been said about the weather conditions in the area at the time ? Clouds, Ground Fog ?capt. mike - 9-10-2006 at 05:00 PM
they left Brown, likely headed to MMES for customs since they were headed for SQ. The A.O.E. at Ensenada, MMES, IS a dual use military AND civilian
airport. They had engine problems and crashed short of the field as it looks like.
Or, if they DID make MMES for customs and entry and took off to head south, they didn't get far - likely engine problem as was reported on some other
sites.
One of three medical volunteers who died in a plane crash near an Ensenada military base on Friday was identified yesterday as a 24-year-old Mira Mesa
woman.
Brianne Nicole Shelton was a nurse at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. She was on her second trip to Mexico with Mexican Medical Ministries,
said her mother, Debbie Shelton of San Marcos.
Shelton, along with a dentist and their pilot, were killed when the plane, a Beach Bonanza B36, crashed into a building near Cipres Military Base, the
U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said.
The three were headed to a clinic in San Quintin.
The plane took off from Brown Field about 12:30 p.m., and crashed about 1:10 p.m. Few details about the accident were available yesterday.
The family of the pilot, Robert McEneany, 57, of Las Vegas, said the plane's engine failed. McEneany, an experienced pilot who had been flying monthly
medical missions for years, steered the plane away from traffic on the ground, said his sister-in-law, Maria McEneany of Rancho Santa Fe.
“He would have definitely injured others and likely taken lives on the ground had he not diverted his plane,” she said. Flying was a hobby for Robert
McEneany, a married father of two who owned a business installing electronic equipment into motor vehicles.
“He loved being able to use his flying to bring others to help those in need,” Maria McEneany said.
The dentist, Merlin Larson, 76, had been making frequent trips to Baja California with Mexican Medical Ministries, which has an office in Chula Vista,
since the mid-1990s.
Larson, who lived in Palm Desert, was known as the smiling dentist, said his son, Kim Larson of Fullerton. Married, Larson had four children, two
step-children and several grandchildren.
“The people liked him. He was weathered looking; he looked like a burned-out Elvis,” Kim Larson said.
“He was always friendly. My dad was a very good doctor. He could do surgeries without hurting people.”
Brianne Shelton was volunteering as a nurse, but also as assistant to Larson. Shelton, who is survived by a younger brother and sister and her
parents, put herself through nursing school by working as a dental assistant, her mother said.
Shelton followed her mother into nursing, graduating with her nursing degree from San Diego State University in May 2005.
“Science came easy to her and she enjoyed it. And she knew that nursing was such a broad field, there's just so many possibilities,” Debbie Shelton
said.
At Scripps Memorial, Shelton worked on the medical surgical oncology floor. “She was loving her work, and her work loved her,” her mother said.
