Sept. 6 (UPI) -- A pilot who was transporting a child to a hospital for surgery was killed when his plane crashed in Palo Alto, Calif., Wednesday.
The patient, 16-year-old Chloe King, and her mother, Nancy Dellamaria, both survived the crash.
The pilot was identified as 66-year-old W. John Spencer, a volunteer pilot for Angel Flight West, a nonprofit organization that provides free air transport for patients with serious medical conditions. He was flying King and Dellamaria from Redding, Calif. to Palo Alto.
"Angel Flight West is devastated and deeply saddened to share that we lost one of our volunteer pilot Angels yesterday," the organization said in a statement on Facebook.
Angel Flight West said Spencer had been a volunteer pilot since 2014 and piloted 125 flights to more than 75 families during that time.
"He will be greatly missed by the staff at Angel Flight West and his fellow volunteers," the organization said.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Spencer was approaching the Palo Alto Airport runway when he was told to go around and try a second descent. But he ended up crashing into a pond next to the airport.
Omar Baser, a fellow Angel Flight West pilot who flew into the airport shortly after the crash, told the Mercury News that pilots were being directed to another runway usually reserved for tech companies like Facebook and Google because of crosswinds.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
