Northrop VP, His Wife and Child Die in Plane Crash

LASSEN, Calif. —  An executive of the military contracting company Northrop Grumman and two family members died in a Memorial Day weekend plane crash, company officials said Tuesday.

Paul Marchisotto, 49, a vice president at the Los Angeles-based firm; his wife, Linda, 48; and daughter, Amy, all of Long Beach, died when the Cessna 182 he was piloting crashed into Magee Peak, an 8,550-foot mountain near the Thousand Lakes Wilderness area about 50 miles north of Redding. Amy was between 11 and 15 years old, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office said.

Rescuers recovered the bodies of Marchisotto’s wife and daughter Monday and returned by helicopter Tuesday to attempt to recover Marchisotto’s body, California Highway Patrol Officer Jason Watenpaugh said.

Rescuers had to be taken in by helicopter because there is no way to walk to the remote site, Watenpaugh said.

Paul Marchisotto worked at Northrop Grumman for more than 20 years and led programs overseeing the B-2 stealth bomber and F35 joint strike fighter planes.

In his latest job, he led advanced systems and technology for Northrop’s integrated systems division, company spokesman John Hart said.

Linda Marchisotto was a senior materials and process engineer for the company’s space technology division, he said.

In a letter to Paul Marchisotto’s co-workers, Northrop sector president Scott Seymour described him as giving, fun-loving and bright.

“Passionate about his family, his friends, his work and his co-workers,” Seymour said. “His death is a huge personal loss to us as his extended family.”

The couple had another daughter who attends a Southern California university, Hart said.

The family was flying from Long Beach to Fall River Mills in Shasta County and was scheduled to land at the airport Saturday, the sheriff’s office said.

The CHP found the plane Monday.