• 28
  • July
    2010

An 83-year-old, former pilot for United Airlines died on Tuesday when his small plane crashed in a ravine in Oceanside, California. Throughout most of his life, Cecil Edward Judge was a pilot, serving in World War II and using the GI Bill to put himself through training as a pilot. He flew for United Airlines until he was into his 60's and, his son remembers, they almost had to force him out.

The plane crash occurred shortly after Judge's takeoff from the Oceanside Municipal Airport. Individuals near the airport when the plane took off reported hearing something not quite right with the engine just before the crash. The plane appeared to just barely make it over the tops of some trees before circling lazily and heading towards the ravine.

The plane was far from an experimental craft, a number of which have been involved in recent plane crashes, and Judge was an experienced pilot by any standard. Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration arrived shortly after the plane crash, which left the front end of the plane almost completely destroyed.

There have been no reports yet as to what may have caused the accident. The plane was a twin-engine Beechcraft 95-855 Judge co-owned with his wife Lorraine.

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