FATAL PLANE CRASH UPDATE: Pilot, Passenger were Engineers on Desert Sunlight Solar Project

Update 7:40 p.m. A spokesman for First Solar has released more details about weather impacts at the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm over the weekend, before two engineers on the project died in a plane crash Monday.

Steve Krum, director of global communications for First Solar, shared the following info with Palm Desert Patch:


From Saturday, August 24 to Monday, August 26 heavy rains in the Desert Center area led to flash flooding at the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm. Power throughout the Desert Center community and at the project site was out due to extensive damage to the SCE power lines that provide service to Lake Tamarisk, the project site and several neighbors. Power has since been restored. Local and project roads were flooded and closed to non-emergency vehicles but were reopened on Monday. There was no impact to the project gen-tie line.

A limited team of workers has been on-site since Sunday to begin clean-up and assess impacts. First Solar will determine when construction can commence once the site has been fully evaluated.

Biologists are working alongside the construction team to monitor for desert tortoise and other wildlife. Clean-up and repairs to damaged project and desert tortoise fences are underway.

Asked whether the engineers who died in the plane crash were doing recon of storm damage at the solar farm, Krum declined further comment.

Posted 5:10 p.m. Two men who died in a plane crash Monday afternoon near the First Solar energy site outside Desert Center were engineers on the Desert Sunlight Solar Project, the chief executive officer for First Solar said in a statement.

Here is the statement from First Solar CEO Jim Hughes:

"The First Solar community was deeply saddened to learn of the deaths of two associates in an accident near the Desert Sunlight Solar Project . . .

"Mike Cyr and Jeff Randall, both civil supervisors at the project, were in a single engine aircraft flying over the project when the airplane crashed near the site. The accident is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. First Solar is cooperating fully with authorities.
"We extend our deepest condolences to Mike and Jeff's families and loved ones. We are in contact with the families, and are providing our support in this difficult time."
The Riverside County coroner confirmed their identities in an update Wednesday.

Cyr, 41, of Blythe, was the pilot, and Randall, 35, of Blythe, was his passenger. The registered owner of the crashed plane, a 1971 model Grumman AA-1A Yankee, is identified in FAA records as Michael C. Cyr of Blythe.

At 1:26 p.m. Aug. 26, a Colorado River Station deputy and a Bureau of Land Management ranger were patrolling the Desert Center area "when they witnessed a small plane flying out of control and crash . . . east of Kaiser Road between Lake Tamarisk and the First Solar energy site," sheriff's Sgt. Thomas Velarde said in a statement.

The crashed plane was moved Tuesday to an undisclosed location, where an NTSB investigator was to begin examining it Wednesday, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board said.

"We will be reviewing the crew's flying history, log books, medical records and maintenance records of the aircraft," Keith Holloway of the NTSB said in an email following a phone interview. "We are collecting information regarding the purpose of flight."

Weather in the Coachella Valley on Monday was nothing like Sunday, when monsoonal thunderstorms and remnants of Tropical Storm Ivo unleashed widespread flash flooding across the region.

On Saturday, a microburst in the Lake Tamarisk area downed more than 50 power poles as well as powerlines on Kaiser Road, according to Cal Fire-Riverside County. About 20 First Solar facility employees sheltered in place at the solar plant until roadways were cleared to safely remove them from the area. No injuries were reported.

There may have been drizzle or light rain at times Monday in the Desert Center area, but conditions were not as volatile as Sunday, said Deputy Julio Oseguera of the sheriff's Palm Desert Station.

First Solar is building the 550 megawatt Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, which is co-owned by NextEra Energy Resources, GE Energy Financial Services, and Sumitomo Corporation of America, according to the company's website.

The project is located on land managed by the Federal Bureau of Land Management, about six miles north of Desert Center.

The Desert Sunlight farm will provide enough energy to serve about 160,000 average California homes, displacing an estimated 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year - equivalent to taking about 60,000 cars off the road, according to First Solar officials.

Construction on the project began in September 2011, and the facility is expected to be fully operational by 2015, according to First Solar.