A former mayor of Santa Monica, Rex Minter, 95, died after the Cessna 150A in which he was a passenger flipped during a forced landing on Santa Monica Beach just south of the pier on Thursday. The unidentified pilot is in a local hospital. The pilot requested a return to Santa Monica Airport just after takeoff, citing a rough-running engine. He was trying to line up on Runway 3 but told the tower he couldn’t make the field and was heading for the beach.
The tide was going out and there was a wide swath of hard-packed sand the pilot might have been aiming for but it settled in the breakers. First responders were on the scene within minutes and both men were taken to a local hospital, but Minter died. Minter had a long career in public service, joining the city council in 1955, serving as mayor from 1963 to 1967 and as a city attorney and judge after that.
