Hawthorne air crash victims were practicing maneuvers

The flight instructor and two other certified pilots who were killed when their single-engine plane crashed in Hawthorne were practicing landing and takeoff maneuvers, an aviation investigator said today.

Mustapha Sesay, a 38-year-old Ladera Ranch resident, was piloting the Beechcraft 36 Bonanza when it crashed at Hawthorne Municipal Airport either after just taking off or aborting a landing, said Patrick Jones, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator.

Witnesses said the plane climbed to the west, made a left turn and then a right turn before hitting the Vought Aircraft Industries building, Jones said. The plane plummeted into the parking lot and struck a parked Honda CRV, Jones said.

There were conflicting reports as to whether the engine stopped or was running before the crash, and one person also reported seeing smoke coming from the engine.

Also killed in the crash were Rajesh Vashdev, 40, of Manhattan Beach, and Jorge Avila Quinones, 45, of Downey.

The safety board is investigating the crash and will determine whether the pilot communicated with the control tower immediately before the crash.

The plane is registered to Carpet Pros Inc, a flooring company in Lawndale. An employee at Carpet Pros said today that all three on the plane were friends of the company's owner, and one was a former employee.

—Raja Abdulrahim