Owner of Crashed Plane was Appointed to CAL/OSHA

By Bay City News Service

The registered owner of a plane that crashed in Alameda County on Tuesday, killing the pilot, was appointed to a state standards board in
August.

The Alameda County coroner’s bureau is still trying to confirm the
identity of the pilot killed in the crash late Tuesday morning, but the plane
was registered to John Sacco of Rocklin, according to records provided by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Sacco was appointed to the state Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board by Gov. Jerry Brown in August. He was an industrial hygienist and safety engineer at Earthshine Consulting since 1998, according to Brown’s office.

His Piper PA-32 single-engine plane went down in a rural area of Alameda County off Palomares Road in the Castro Valley area on Monday as it was en route from Lincoln in Placer County to Oakland International Airport.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane at about 11:30 a.m. during its approach to Oakland. County firefighters and sheriff’s deputies began an extensive ground search of the area in wet, foggy conditions, finally finding the plane about four hours later.

The crumpled wreckage of the Piper was on steep, bushy terrain and
difficult to access. Crews pulled a body from the wreckage, presumed to be
the pilot.

The NTSB is taking over the investigation, which remains in the early stages today, and has not determined what caused the crash, a spokesman said.

• Previous: UPDATE: Pilot in Plane Crash Presumed Dead