HESPERIA, CA. (Pain In The Pass) >> Authorities have identified the pilot and a passenger killed when a single-engine plane crashed in Hesperia on Thursday morning.
Guy Kapulnik, 46-year-old from Los Angeles, who was piloting the single-engine aircraft, and passenger Taylor Laska, 33-year-old from Santa Monica, died in the crash, which took place shortly before 10am Thursday, September 24, 2026, in the area of Summit Valley Road and Telephone Canyon Road, according to San Bernardino County Coroner’s officials.
Multiple witnesses said, seeing the plane, later identified as an Aeronca 7AC Champion, plummeting downward and impacting the ground nose-down in a desert field about 2 miles away from the Hesperia Airport. The two occupants in the plane died from their injuries.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash and the cause is still unknown at this time.
The aircraft was registered to an owner via a P.O. box in Apple Valley, according to FAA records.
There are more ways to follow the Pain In The Pass. Join the Traffic Group on Facebook with over 173,000 members. Join the group on MeWe. Like us on the on Facebook. Follow us on Instagram, and also follow us on Threads, and X aka Twitter.
If you do get into an accident, click or call the trusted professionals of Lerner, Moore, Silva, Cunningham & Rubel Professional Law Corporation.
