WATSONVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Two small planes collided in Northern California while trying to land at a local airport Thursday, killing at least two of the three passengers, officials said.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, there were two people aboard the twin-engine Cessna 340 when it crashed and only the pilot of the single-engine Cessna 152. Officials say there have been reports of several casualties, but it is not yet known if anyone survived.
The pilots were on their final approach to the airport before the collision, the FAA said in a statement. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board, which did not provide additional details, are investigating the crash.
None of the people on the ground were hurt. The airport has four runways and is home to more than 300 aircraft, according to its website. It performs more than 55,000 operations a year and is often used for recreational aircraft and agricultural operations.
Watsonville, near Monterey Bay, is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of San Francisco.
Photos and videos posted on social media showed the wreckage of one small plane in a grassy field near the airport. One picture showed a plume of smoke coming from a street near the airport.
A witness said the planes were about 200 feet (61 meters) in the air when they fell. Santa Cruz Sentinel.
Frankie Herrera was driving past the airport when he saw the twin-engine plane bank hard to the right and hit the wing of the smaller plane, which “just rolled down and crashed” near the edge of the airfield and not far from homes. told the newspaper.
The twin-engine plane continued to fly, but “it was struggling,” Herrera said, then saw flames on the other side of the airport.
The manager of the Watsonville Municipal Airport was not available for a phone interview in the hours after the crash. The airport accounts for about 40% of all general aviation activity in the Monterey Bay area, according to the City of Watsonville’s website.
The Watsonville Police Department referred calls to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, where the dispatcher had no information.
Two more pilots were also injured Thursday in plane crashes in California.
A 65-year-old San Diego man suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries when his single-engine plane crashed on a street near a busy freeway overpass in El Cajon, authorities said.
The plane reportedly crashed into an SUV, but no one on the ground was injured in the city nearly 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of downtown San Diego.
The pilot of the ultralight was later seriously injured when it crashed head-down into a building at Camarillo Airport in Ventura County, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) from downtown Los Angeles.
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