Pilot Accused in Theft, Crash of Plane

FONTANA — The pilot of a small airplane that crashed on a residential street Monday was under investigation for allegedly stealing the plane and trying to crash into a house where his estranged wife stayed.

Pilot William Marconda, 22, of Fontana was rescued from the burning wreckage by witnesses, including two Air Force Reserve medical officers who ran to the scene from a nearby restaurant.

Sally Duron, a major in the reserves and a burn trauma nurse in civilian life, ran outside to find Marconda lying under a wing.

“The victim was screaming in pain,” she said. “He said something to the effect . . . ‘Would someone please kill me.’ We started looking at each other like, ‘Why is he saying this?’ ”

The 6:30 a.m. crash came less than three hours after Marconda argued with his estranged wife, threatening to kill her and himself, police Sgt. Terry Boess said.

Marconda was arrested on suspicion of stealing the single-engine Cessna from an Apple Valley airport and attempting to crash it, Boess said.

Because of Marconda’s injuries, investigators were uncertain when he would be booked. A police officer was assigned to stay with him at the hospital. The estranged wife’s name was not immediately available, Boess said.

Marconda was taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he was in fair condition with burns on his legs and severe back and neck injuries, hospital spokesman Dick Schaefer said.

No one on the ground was hurt and no structures were damaged in the crash on Sierra Avenue between San Bernardino and Marygold avenues.

Duron, a Gulf War veteran, is a flight nurse in the Air Force Reserve and is trained to deal with plane crashes. As a civilian, she is a nurse at the San Bernardino County Burn Trauma Center.

She was assisted by another reservist, Dorice Odell, and several other nurses who happened to drive by.

The rescuers had to move Marconda out from under a fuel-laden wing as flames from the burning plane grew more intense.

“We started assessing him and five of us carried him away after deciding he either gets burned or we take a risk of moving him,” she said. “We couldn’t control the flames.”

Motorist Rick Cross said he was headed north on Sierra Avenue when he saw a wing coming at him. He swerved and narrowly missed getting hit by the plane as it went down, he said.