PHOENIX — An Arizona State University researcher has been identified as the pilot who died when a small plane went down Friday on a Los Angeles street, officials said.
The pilot was Alberto Behar, 47, of Scottsdale, said the Los Angeles County Department of the Coroner.
Behar was an employee at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and also was an ASU researcher in the School of Earth and Space Exploration, says his profile on LinkedIn, a networking website.
Behar also was involved in the NASA Curiosity rover that uses scientific instruments to gather information on Mars. His research involved a Russian-made instrument that detected hydrogen beneath the rover, said an ASU news release in 2013.
Behar also received a patent in 2011 for developing a robot that could operate in zero gravity, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Sgt. Barry Montgomery, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman, said the single-engine Lancair did not hit any vehicles or structures as it went down on the busy street just outside the Van Nuys Airport at about 1 p.m., and no other injuries were reported.
