June 30, 2017 started off as a normal – or as normal as you can get – day for Avalon Fire Department Captain John Meffert. Capt. Meffert had just gotten off shift and was on his way home to meet his fiancé for a road trip to Palm Springs for an early Fourth of July celebration. However, he got stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the 55 freeway.
“All of a sudden, the freeway just opened and I was the first car along with some others to the right that were able to get back to normal freeway speeds,” Capt. Meffert recalled. While back on the freeway, that’s when Capt. Meffert noticed a low-flying twin-engine Cessna 310R by the John Wayne Airport.