Fred Fourcher, president of the Orange County Pilots Assn., of which Hogland was a member, said he has flown in and out of the airport many times, adding that "I haven't found anything that tells me that Catalina is a dangerous airport."
Still, he said the runway's hilltop location can be "optically intimidating."
As details about the crash were released, questions emerged about the pilot's qualifications to fly a charter flight.
According to the SkyBlue USA websiteHogland's company offers sightseeing tours along "Southern California's beautiful coastline, Catalina Island and other scenic locations."
But he was not licensed to conduct charter flights, Federal Aviation Administration records show.
He earned his private pilot's license Sept. 7, 2001, but that did not qualify him for commercial flights such as sightseeing tours.
More recently, on Aug. 20, Hogland obtained his instrument rating, FAA records show, allowing him to fly during bad weather by navigating with just instruments rather than visually.
The 1983 fixed-wing, single-engine plane was the company's only aircraft, according to FAA records, and had been used for charter flights.
Hogland left for Catalina with the two passengers aboard, though it is unclear whether they paid for the trip, sheriff's officials said.
"We believe that it's a charter flight and that they were tourists, but we can't know that for a fact," Hudson said. "The man who was flying the plane was in the business of doing that."
FAA spokesman Ian Gregor declined to comment on the crash specifically but said, "Looking at pilot qualifications [is] a part of every FAA active investigation."
Sheriff's officials were investigating the crash with the National Transportation Safety Board, the FAA and the L.A. County coroner's office, which is working to identify the victims.
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tony.barboza@latimes.com
