Isaac Zimmern, 27, has been identified as the fourth victim of the plane crash off the shore of Half Moon Bay last Saturday. Zimmern is the son of a wealthy Zoom executive. Issac was with his longtime girlfriend of over 10 years, Emma Willmer-Shiles, also 27 and known as Pearl. The childhood sweethearts were both living in nearby San Francisco.
Isaac and Emma lost their lives in a homemade plane being flown by Australian Lochie Ferrier, an experimental plane pilot. Ferrier's fiancée, Cassidy Petit, a venture capitalist, was also killed in the crash. As of now, only Willmer-Shiles' body has been recovered, spotted by a fishing trawler earlier this week.
Tragedy at the Wrong Time
Isaac was the son of Johann Zimmern, 59, the Head of Global Education Marketing at Zoom in San Francisco and lives in a $1.1 million home in the Sunnyside area of the city. Rescuers from the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office are actively searching for the remaining three occupants of the crashed plane.
Ferrier, the Australian pilot, was known in the 'experimental aircraft' community and had earned an aeronautical engineering degree from MIT in 2019. He was associated with Beta Technologies, an electric plane company.
Ferrier later moved to California to work at Magpie Aviation in Hayward, which specializes in electric aircraft.
Last October, Ferrier, originally from Armidale in New South Wales, announced his engagement to Petit.
Petit was a venture capitalist at RH Capital, focusing on reproductive and maternal health. Ferrier proposed during a vacation in Baja California. The couple shared a love for outdoor activities, evident in their social media posts featuring scenes of climbing, surfing, snorkeling, hiking, and skiing.
Petit's last Instagram post, on January 1, was an engagement photo of the couple in front of the snow-capped mountains of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
Horrifying footage this week showed parts of the wreckage of the Cozy Mark IV, a four-seat light aircraft that can be built from a kit, washing up on the rocks.
Tragic End
The plane took off from Hayward and toured the bay on Sunday afternoon, and landed at Half Moon Bay at 5:04 pm. After spending two hours on the ground, it departed from Half Moon Bay and tragically crashed shortly afterward.
Witnesses at the Moss Beach Distillery informed NBC Bay Area that they observed the plane flying 'erratically' before losing sight of it. While there have been no official indications of what went wrong, a witness reported hearing an engine losing power and cutting out.
"They heard the engine sputter, and they kept eyes on the plane until they lost sight of it, just over the horizon," said Sgt. Philip Hallworth of the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office.
"That prompted a search and rescue by the sheriff's office and coast guard."
The Coast Guard conducted an extensive search for victims in a 28-square mile area for nearly six hours on Monday using a helicopter and boat crew. However, the search was called off around mid-morning. Later in the day, a fishing crew spotted a woman's body floating in the water.
The unconventional nature of the plane adds complexity to the investigation. According to Federal Aviation Administration records, the aircraft was registered to an Oakland-based company called Winged Wallabies, Inc.
