Crashed after departure from San Diego, door departed in flight and crashed on a golf course landing upside down. 1 man and 3 children injured, 1 woman fatally injured. News account. Eyewitness accounts say that he maneuvered to the left to avoid a pole, and that is when the left wing struck the ground causing the aircraft to tumble.

UPDATE 1: The victims have indeed been identified as the Crane Family.
UPDATE 2: Apparently Crane did build this aircraft. This article includes the ATC audio.
UPDATE 3: The youngest child has apparently succumbed to his injuries.
UPDATE 4: Duane has some comments in this article. Oddly the Navy’s Criminal Investigative Service has decided to involve themselves in the case.

Initial report from the San Diego Union Tribune (Aug. 5, 2010)

One of three children hospitalized following the Monday crash of a plane piloted by their father died Wednesday, the county Medical Examiner’s Office said.

Austin Crane, 8, of Scottsdale, Ariz., was declared brain dead at 10:25 a.m. at Rady Children’s Hospital, a medical examiner’s investigator said Wednesday night. His sisters, Summer, 11, and Tia, 10, remain at the hospital in critical condition.

Austin remains at the children’s hospital on life support but is considered deceased, said Mike Ellano, medical examiner’s supervising investigator.

The children’s mother, identified by the Medical Examiner’s Office as Lori Jean Orner and not Lori Crane as previously reported, was killed when the Velocity XL-RG5 plane crashed onto Admiral Baker Golf Course when it lost a door shortly after takeoff from Montgomery Field.

Her husband, Gregory Crane, remains in critical condition at Sharp Memorial Hospital.

Ellano said Naval Criminal Investigative Service is investigating because the crash occurred on military property. The National Transportation Safety Board also is investigating.

Later reporting from the San Diego Union Tribune (Aug. 5, 2010)

SAN DIEGO —

One of three Arizona children badly injured along with their father when their small plane crashed on a San Diego golf course has died.

The medical examiner’s office says 8-year-old Austin Crane of Mesa was declared dead Wednesday at Rady Children’s Hospital.

His 11-year-old sister Summer, 10-year-old sister Tia, and their father Gregory Crane remain at the hospital in critical condition. The children’s mother Lori died in Monday’s crash.

Gregory Crane was piloting a Velocity XL-RG5 when he radioed soon after takeoff that he had an open door and was going to try to return to the airport.

But the plane crashed on the Admiral Baker Golf Course.

Audio