Former “Bachelor” contestant and pilot Erin Storm died in a fiery plane crash on Monday.
The 41-year-old was flying a small plane, which took off from Hawthorne
Airport in Los Angeles and crashed soon after takeoff around noon,
police said.
There were no other passengers onboard and no one on the ground was injured.
It’s unclear what caused the single engine plane to go down. The crash
is being investigated by both the Federal Aviation Administration, as
well as the National Traffic Safety Board, Hawthorne Police said.
Storm, who vied for the love of British bachelor Matt Grant on season
12 of the reality show, was pulled from the wreckage, which was engulfed
in flames, by nearby construction workers.
"All of a sudden, my partner started yelling, 'Watch out, there's a
plane coming!' and it looked like the plane veered up, lost control and
hit a couple feet away from the truck, a couple feet away from us,”
Bryon Mayes, who witnessed the crash, told KNBC.
Mayes and others pulled the pilot from the burning plane, with Storm in
cardiac arrest and her legs on fire, according to Mayes.
The Venice, Calif., resident worked for Pacific Blue Air, an aircraft training facility at the L.A. airport.
Witnesses said Storm was dressed in a blue Pacific Blue Air jumpsuit.
Grant —who ended up proposing to contestant Shayne Lamas but later ended the relationship —told Entertainment Tonight he was “massively shocked” by Storm’s passing.
"We were lucky to have Erin on season 12. She was genuine,
self-assured, beautiful and hilarious,” he said. “My thoughts and
prayers go out to her loved ones.”
Several of Storm’s friends also shared their condolences on Facebook.
“Erin was a beautiful person inside and out, and that anyone who knew
her would tell you the same,” wrote Joshua Daniel, who briefly appeared
on Grant’s season of the show.
“She was always a very nice, caring person who beat to her own drum.
She was loved by many people and will be dearly missed,” he continued.
Storm appeared on the dating show in 2008 and was voted off during the third week.
At the time her occupation was listed as “hot dog vendor.”
“On my season her occupation was listed as Hot Dog Vendor...which
surprised me a little bit. From talking to her, it soon became clear she
was a smart, entrepreneurial cookie,” Grant remarked.
The San Diego native started working at Pacific Blue Air in 2013 and was engaged, according to her Facebook.
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