Officials identified the fifth man killed Sunday when a Sabreliner on a training flight for the U.S. military collided midair with a civilian plane.
James Henry Hale, 66, of Adelanto, California was the co-pilot of the Sabreliner according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Hale was one of four people in the Sabreliner that was under contract with the U.S. military when it collided with a Cessna 172 just north of Brown Field Municipal Airport.
The FAA and NTSB are investigating what caused the two planes to collide.
The force of the crash sent debris flying over more than a mile of land in a nature preserve. No one on the ground was injured but there were no survivors from the aircraft involved.
The Cessna pilot was Michael A. Copeland, 55, a Qualcomm executive who had a passion for flying.
"It was his passion. I think he would have been glad to go out this way no matter how tragic. He loved to be up there in the sky," his wife, Kathi, wrote in a Facebook post.
She told NBC 7 Copeland was practicing "touch and go's" before the incident.
Carlos Palos, John Kovach and Jeff Percy were identified Monday as three of the four victims on the Sabrelienr, according to their employer BAE Systems.
NTSB Investigator in Charge Andrew Swick said the Sabreliner was inbound for landing at Brown Field Municipal Airport at the time of the incident.
Wing marks indicate the two planes may have collided at the wing, Swick said.
