Skip to main content
Sunday, November 8, 2026Nov 8

This story is free to read.

Military contractor names employees killed in midair crash

Authorities say multiple people died following the midair collision and crash of two small planes near an airport in southern San Diego County. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says the collision occurred around 11 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 16, 2015, about 2 miles northeast of Brown Field Municipal Airport. (John Gastaldo/U-T San Diego via AP)
Authorities say multiple people died following the midair collision and crash of two small planes near an airport in southern San Diego County. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says the collision occurred around 11 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 16, 2015, about 2 miles northeast of Brown Field Municipal Airport. (John Gastaldo/U-T San Diego via AP) Authorities say multiple people died following the midair collision and crash of two small planes near an airport in southern San Diego County. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says the collision occurred around 11 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 16, 2015, about 2 miles northeast of Brown Field Municipal Airport. (John Gastaldo/U-T San Diego via AP)

SAN DIEGO (AP) – Military contractor BAE Systems has released the names of its three employees who died when their plane collided midair with another aircraft over Southern California this weekend.

The company said Monday that Carlos Palos, John Kovach and Jeff Percy were among the five killed when their twin-engine Sabreliner jet collided with a single-engine Cessna 172 on Sunday about 2 miles northeast of Brown Field Municipal Airport.

BAE says a military contractor also was on board but didn’t release that person’s name or the positions of its three employees. The Cessna pilot’s name also has not been released.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Andrew Swick told reporters Monday that investigators planned to take the debris to Arizona to reconstruct the wreckage but that the probe could take a year to complete.