Plane crash that killed two struck mountainside

The small plane that crashed the day before Thanksgiving, killing a man and his daughter's fiancé, apparently clipped a tree in mountainous terrain seven miles east of Alamogordo, federal investigators reported.

The pilot, Patrick Cheung, 40, and his soon-to-be father-in-law, Ralph Guerin, 73, were found dead at the crash site, New Mexico State Police said at the time.

A preliminary report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board did not identify the cause of the crash, but investigators found that the plane was navigating rugged mountain terrain before crashing at 6,300 feet elevation.

"The airplane came to rest on an ascending mountainous slope" about 7 miles east of the Alamogordo-White Sands Regional Airport, where the plane departed, the report said.

"The first identified point of impact was the top of a tree," it said. The rocky terrain included loosely spaced pine trees about 75 feet in height. Most of the wreckage was consumed by fire, it said.

Weather conditions were clear during the daytime flight and visibility was estimated at 10 miles, the report said.

Cheung began a cross-country flight from Palm Springs, Florida, on Nov. 24 and made several stops before landing at the regional airport in Alamogordo two days later, the report said.

The two-seat American Aviation AA-1A departed Alamogordo at about 11:30 a.m. Nov. 26 and was expected to return an hour later.

"The pilot had recently purchased the airplane and received his private pilot certificate about one month prior to the accident," the report said.

Ana Guerin, daughter of Ralph Guerin and fiancée of Cheung, said the two men were sightseeing around Alamogordo in Cheung’s plane when it crashed.

Cheung worked as head of engineering for the Florida Atlantic University and had recently received his instrument-rating license, which allows pilots to fly at night, Ana Guerin said.

Cheung had made the flight to New Mexico to visit his future father-in-law, she said.

Ralph Guerin served as a Navy pilot during the Vietnam War and retired from Holloman Air Force Base in 2019, she said.