Posted at 8:23 a.m. PDT Monday, October 16, 2000

Fog may have disoriented pilots killed in Monterey Bay crash MONTEREY, Calif. (AP) -- Two Sacramento women attending a weekend conference for pilots died when their 41-year-old airplane crashed into Monterey Bay.

Witnesses told authorities the 1959 Beechcraft Bonanza's single engine sputtered just a minute after takeoff from Monterey Peninsula Airport Sunday afternoon and the plane nose-dived into the bay about 500 yards off Del Monte Beach.

Betty Alair, 65, whose husband, Neil Alair, owned the plane, was believed to be at the controls. The other woman was identified as Shirley Lehr, 70.

It appeared possible the pilot became disoriented in fog and almost flew into the water before pulling the plane up so sharply it could have stalled the engine, said Tom Jenkins, a deputy coroner in Monterey County.

Neil Alair told the Monterey County Herald his wife had been flying for about 30 years. She was in Monterey for a conference sponsored by the Monterey Bay Ninety-Nines, an organization of women pilots. Betty Alair was president of the Sacramento Valley unit of the Ninety-Nines.

``She always flies,'' he said. ``She uses the plane like a car.''

A dozen sailboats and some sport-fishing boats were already hunting for survivors when the Coast Guard arrived, followed close behind by boats from the Monterey Fire Department and the state Department of Fish and Game.

The searchers pulled two bodies from the water, along with parts of the plane, including a seat cushion, a nose wheel, metal fragments and a child's toy.

On Oct. 12, 1997, singer John Denver died in a plane crash off nearby Pacific Grove when his experimental plane crashed into the bay.

http://www.mercurycenter.com/breaking/docs/028525.htm

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), October 16, 2000