CAA: GA News, "Car crashes into Visalia, California airport"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thursday, January 16, 2003

Car crashes into airport
18-year-old driver loses control while on Highway 198
The Visalia (CA) Times-Delta


A Visalia man lost control of his car Wednesday afternoon, crashing through
a fence and into the passenger terminal of the Visalia airport.

California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Berlin said a car driven by Fu Yan,
18, was traveling east on Highway 198 when it drifted into the median. Yan
probably overcorrected, Berlin said, and then drove down the right side of
the freeway, over a fence that separates the airport's employee parking lot
from the freeway and into the terminal.

The 1995 Honda Accord's front end was smashed and two holes were punched in
the wall. Yan was not injured.

Kim Kateley, station manager for SkyWest, which operates United Express
flights out of the airport, said debris from a large hole spread throughout
a storage room and down a hallway. Another small hole in the brick wall
leads to her office.

"It sounded like an explosion," Kateley said. "It's a good thing nobody was
walking back here."

Berlin said Yan most likely was not speeding.

Attached Photo's:

Fu Yan sits Wednesday at the rear door of Visalia Municipal Airport. Yan,
18, of Visalia was driving this 1995 Honda Accord eastbound on Highway 198
when he lost control near the Visalia airport. He traveled 466 feet and
knocked down about 40 feet of chain link fence before running into the
Visalia Municipal Airport building.

CHP Officer Mark Berlin, right, takes information from Visalia police
officers behind the Visalia Municipal Airport building.

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