It’s always sad to hear about a person dying before his or her time, but it’s especially sobering when that death has occurred due to a terrible accident. It was confirmed on Wednesday that Bachelor contestant Erin Storm perished on Monday during a plane crash. The contestant, who appeared on the show back in Season 12 had since gotten her pilot’s license via Pacific Blue Air. She was the sole occupant in the plane during the flight.
At noon on March 21, police reported to the scene of a light aircraft accident, which had crashed into the Hawthorne streets near 120th and Crenshaw, north of the Hawthorne airport. According to a report from the Hawthorne Police Department, the plane was on fire when police arrived. A construction crew had actually seen the crash when it happened and pulled Erin Storm from the crash site immediately. Unfortunately, it was an extremely rough crash, and while Storm was treated both by the Los Angeles Fire department and the team at the UCLA Medical Center in Carson, the former Bachelor contestant didn’t make it. She was only 41 years old. Footage from the scene can be viewed, below.
Erin Storm was only a fleeting contestant on The Bachelor, having popped up in several episodes only to be eliminated during Week 3 of the Matt Grant season, which aired back in 2008. In the time since, the proclaimed "hot dog stand" vendor got her pilot’s license. She’d been licensed and had been flying on her own since her first solo flight in November of 2015, according to Pacific Blue Air’s Facebook page. NBC LA is reporting that Erin Storm was flying a Airborne XT-912 light-sport plane when she crashed. Investigators from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are currently looking into what happened.
Erin Storm isn’t the first Bachelor contestant to die in recent weeks. The long-running series has dealt with several suicides over the years and last month, it was revealed that Season 14 contestant Lex McAllister had committed suicide after struggling with depression for some time. Gia Allemand similarly died shortly after attempting suicide in 2013.
Accidents do happen, but that doesn't make someone's death any less painful for the friends or family of the deceased. Our hearts go out to Erin Storm's family, friends and community at this time. You are in our thoughts and we wish you the very best as you move forward.
