Club Members Duck to Avoid Plane Crash-Landing; 3 Hurt Aboard Craft

DANA POINT —  A pilot and two passengers suffered minor injuries Sunday when their small plane ran out of gas and crash-landed in front of a secluded beachside club, where several startled members and a valet had to duck to avoid being hit.

Orange County sheriff’s officials said the single-engine Cessna was en route to Fullerton Municipal Airport from a small airfield in San Diego County when the pilot made an emergency landing on Niguel Road near the Ritz-Carlton hotel about 2:15 p.m.

The four-seat plane was nearly destroyed by the impact, said Sheriff’s Lt. Jay Mendez. Ron Beckmeyer, 46, his wife, Carol, 39, both of Visalia, and Brian Paulino, 23, of Inglewood were treated for minor cuts.

At the Tennis Club at Monarch Beach, club members and employees who had gathered for a tennis tournament said they heard the Cessna’s sputtering engine and saw it flying toward them, barely missing trees.

The plane landed in front of the club on Niguel Road, bounced once, and caught a wing in palm trees in the median, witnesses said. The trees sheared off the wing, and the plane spun around before it came to rest in the median.