Marin coroner: No ID yet in Novato plane crash

The identity of a pilot who died in a fiery plane crash in Novato over the weekend will have to be confirmed through scientific tests because of “severe physiologic damage,” Chief Deputy Coroner Roger Fielding said Monday.

The crash happened at about 3:50 p.m. Saturday at the Marin County Airport, also known as Gnoss Field Airport, according to Donnell Evans, a Federal Aviation Administration representative. The single-engine Aero Commander 200D crashed into a hangar, Evans said. The pilot was the only person on board.

No details were available Monday on where the pilot resided or what the flight route was. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.

The incident is the first deadly air crash in Marin County since July 2023, when a small plane went down near the San Rafael Airport, according to federal records. The crash killed Marc Pankin, 59, of Novato. Authorities said the plane’s tail fin struck utility lines.

Other recent small-plane fatalities in Marin include a crash that killed two Sacramento residents in the Marin Headlands in 2022; a crash that killed a Texas man near Bolinas in 2017; and a crash that killed a Redwood City man attempting to land at Gnoss Field in 2014.