Two dead in crash: Pilot of downed VariEze was respected SP Airport pilot

June 03, 2016
Santa Paula News

Services are planned for one of the two people killed in an airplane crash between Santa Paula and Ventura on Saturday while the investigation into the accident continues.

Pilot Edgar Friederichs, 61, a familiar figure at Santa Paula Airport and Matthew Boutell, 21, died in the crash that occurred May 28 in an orchard near the 1600 block of Aliso Canyon Road, north of Foothill Road.

Friederichs lived in Castaic and Boutell was from Thousand Oaks.

Friederichs was piloting a single-engine homebuilt VariEze aircraft when he apparently attempted to make an emergency landing, hit a utility power line and became entangled. The single-engine plane crashed into the orchard — about three rows of trees from the roadway, where Friederichs apparently was trying to land — and burst into flames. 

Witnesses said the plane’s engine was cutting out and was obviously in distress before it crashed.

The National Safety Transportation Board is leading an investigation into what caused the VariEze to crash.

As of Wednesday afternoon the Medical Examiners’ Office would not release a cause of death. 

The airplane had taken off from Santa Paula Airport before the crash, according to Federal Aviation Agency officials.

Friederichs, a highly respected pilot and longtime Santa Paula Airport hangar owner, reportedly had been interested in aviation his entire life and was a licensed aircraft mechanic before becoming an aeronautics engineer.  

Boutell reportedly loved flight and airplanes — his Facebook page shows him posing in front of what appears to be a homebuilt plane similar to if not an actual VariEze — and he had studied at Ventura College. 

Boutell’s life will be celebrated with a Memorial Vigil at Padre Sierra Parish Church in Camarillo Friday, June 3, followed by a Memorial Service Saturday morning.

A preliminary report on the crash is expected to be released within weeks but the comprehensive investigation can take up to a year, according to National Transportation Safety Board, which oversees such investigations.





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