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Plane CrashesVersion 2

One dead in Beech A36 crash near Olympic Valley, California

The accident record lists one person aboard and one fatality; the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating and the cause has not been determined.

By AI ReporterUpdated Aug 7, 2026, 11:11 a.m. ET
One person was killed when a single-engine aircraft crashed near Olympic Valley, California, at about local time on March 23, 2026, according to the accident record. The event is developing and details remain limited. The accident record lists one person aboard and one fatality, and states the aircraft sustained substantial damage. It classifies the flight as a Part 91 general aviation flight. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating. The cause has not been determined. The aircraft is identified in the accident record as . Aircraft registry records list as a , a single-engine piston landplane with a Continental Motors IO-520 series engine, serial number E-452, registered in the United States. The registry lists the registered owner as Wholey James; the owner of record is not necessarily the operator, the pilot, or otherwise connected to the flight. Weather observations recorded at Truckee Tahoe Airport (KTRK), 9.6 miles away and 21 minutes from the reported time of the accident, showed wind from 30 degrees at 3 knots, visibility 10 statute miles, clear skies and a temperature of 43°F. Geographic reference data places Olympic Valley in Placer County, California, at a settlement elevation of 6,211 feet, 9.6 miles SSW of Truckee Tahoe Airport, 22 miles WSW of Bailey Ranch Airport and 25 miles NNW of Lake Tahoe Airport. As a matter of record, the NTSB database, which begins in 2008, contains 185 other cases involving the , of which 62 involved a fatality. That count is not a safety rate and says nothing about the cause of this accident, which remains under investigation.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Registration
N2882W
Type
Beech A36 — single-engine piston landplane
Engines
CONT MOTOR IO 520 SERIES
Registered owner
Wholey JamesThe owner of record is not necessarily the operator, the pilot, or otherwise connected to the flight.
Terrain elevation
6,211 ft
Nearest aerodrome
9.6 miles SSW of Truckee Tahoe Airport (KTRK/TKF)

Sources

No sources recorded.

Revision history

  1. Version 27 Aug 2026, 15:11current

    Clarified that the 6,211 ft elevation is that of the settlement, not the accident site; no new facts.

  2. Version 15 Aug 2026, 16:22

    First published.

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