On November 15, 1987, U.S. Customs Pilots David Crater and James Taylor were killed in an aircraft crash along the United States-Mexico border near Calexico, California.
They were flying in the area to serve as a reference point for radar detectors that had been moved into the area. The Cessna 441 Conquest they were operating crashed approximately one-half mile south of the border after it struck a 300-foot ridge. A search was initiated after ground units lost contact with the aircraft.
Pilot Crater had served with the U.S. Customs Service for seven months.