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4 dead after small plane crashes into homes near Riverside airport

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A Cessna 310 similar to the one that crashed. Photo via Wikimedia Commons

A Cessna 310 similar to the one that crashed. Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Two women remained hospitalized in critical condition Tuesday while federal and local authorities continued their investigation into what caused a twin-engine airplane to crash into a residential neighborhood, killing a man, a woman and a teenage girl.

The two surviving women, estimated to be in their late 30s to early 40s, were ejected from the plane into one of the homes. Both were listed in critical condition, with a fire official saying one of them had possibly third- degree burns over nearly 90 percent of her body. Firefighters pulled one of the women out of a burning home, while a second was pulled from the crash scene by witnesses.

The names of the dead were withheld, pending family notification. Police said it was unknown which person was piloting the airplane, however, neighbors told reporters Monday the woman they pulled from the crash scene claimed she was the pilot.

Personnel from the National Transportation Safety Board were on scene Tuesday morning conducting an investigation.

All the victims were on the plane and everyone on the ground was accounted for, but a secondary search of the wreckage was being conducted as a precaution, according to the Riverside Fire Department.

The crash was reported about 4:40 p.m. Monday in the 6400 block of Rhonda Road, near Dewey Avenue, about a half-mile northeast of Riverside Municipal Airport.

The Cessna 310 was carrying a married couple and three others from the San Jose area, Riverside Fire Department Chief Michael Moore told reporters at a late-night news conference. It was unclear if everyone aboard belonged to the same family.

One of the survivors was taken to the burn unit at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton and was in surgery Monday night. The other survivor was taken to the Riverside Community Hospital for treatment.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor told City News Service the aircraft was en route to San Jose and had just departed Riverside.

The people on the plane had come from San Jose for a cheerleading conference at Disneyland, Moore said. Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim hosted the United Spirit Association Jr. Nationals cheerleading competition on Saturday and Sunday, the Press-Enterprise reported.

The plane clipped power lines as it went down.

Light rain was falling at the time of the crash, and overcast conditions prevailed, though visibility was about three miles, according to Riverside Municipal Airport.

The plane had a fairly full fuel tank and the crash caused a fire that continued to burn into Monday evening, Moore said.

The family who lived in one of the destroyed homes returned from a family event following the crash and verified that they were all together and accounted for, Moore said, adding that their home, along with one other, was a total loss. The person living in the other home has been accounted for, police said Tuesday.

Adjacent homes sustained moderate damage. An entire block of about 40 homes was evacuated, but some were allowed back home Tuesday morning, authorities said.

Fire officials said Tuesday that two homes were red-tagged as uninhabitable, and two others were damaged, but they suffered primarily smoke damage and minor exterior damage.

A shelter was set up for displaced residents and the American Red Cross confirmed it was assisting five displaced families but was anticipating a sixth.

The American Red Cross also was providing mental health workers trained to deal with disasters to speak with residents in the neighborhood about what they saw and experienced.

— City News Service

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Deadly plane crash after Disneyland cheer leading conference

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A Cessna 310 similar to the one that crashed. Photo via Wikimedia Commons

A Cessna 310 similar to the one that crashed. Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Two women were in critical condition Wednesday after surviving a fiery plane crash in Riverside that claimed the lives of three other occupants and destroyed two homes, where federal investigators were sifting through debris and examining remnants of the wreckage to sort out what happened.

The victims had attended a cheer leading conference at Disneyland.

“We are sorrowed by the loss of life and those who were injured,” said Riverside City Councilman Mike Soubirous, who represents the district just east of Riverside Municipal Airport where the twin-engine Cessna 310 went down Monday afternoon.

Soubirous and Riverside Fire Department Capt. Tyler Reynolds held a news briefing less than 300 feet from the crash site, in the 6400 block of  Rhonda Road, halfway between Dewey Avenue and Beatty Drive. No part of the six-seat Cessna could be readily identified among the smoldering ruins.

“The plane struck the right front corner of the house,” Reynolds said. “The victims were ejected.”

More than 60 firefighters converged on the location within minutes of the 4:40 p.m. crash, according to the fire captain.

He said a man, woman and teenage girl were pronounced dead at the scene. Another woman was pulled out of a bedroom, while another was located in the front yard, Reynolds said.

One of the women suffered burns to roughly 90 percent of her body and was admitted for treatment at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, Reynolds said. The exact injuries to the second survivor, who was taken to Riverside Community Hospital, were not known.

None of the victims’ identities were disclosed, and it remained unclear who was piloting the airplane, although witnesses said Monday the survivor found in the front yard of the burning home said she was the pilot. According to police and fire officials, the victims’ relatives, by and large, reside in the San Jose area. It could not be immediately confirmed whether all of the parties were related.

According to Reynolds, both of the homes destroyed in the ensuing blaze were unoccupied at the time.

The fire, fueled by hundreds of pounds of aviation gasoline, charred one entire single-story residence and most of the adjacent one. Two other homes were also impacted but completely intact, according to the fire captain.

The blaze was fully contained in 20 minutes, and no hazardous materials cleanup was required afterward, he told City News Service.

“It’s a tragic incident,” Reynolds said, adding that the National Transportation Safety Board was handling the investigation. Several agents were at work during the news briefing.

Soubirous, himself a licensed pilot, said he remained confident in the handling of aircraft operations at Riverside Municipal Airport, which records more than 400,000 takeoffs and landings annually.

“The FAA has strict rules, and flight paths are followed properly,” the councilman said.

The Cessna 310 was carrying a married couple and three others from the San Jose area, according to Riverside Fire Department Chief Michael Moore.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor told City News Service the aircraft was en route to San Jose and had just departed Riverside on Runway 9 eastbound.

The victims had come from San Jose for a cheerleading conference at Disneyland, Moore said. Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim hosted the United Spirit Association Jr. Nationals cheerleading competition on Saturday and Sunday.

The plane clipped power lines as it went down. Light rain was falling at the time, and overcast conditions prevailed, though visibility was about three miles, according to Riverside Municipal Airport.

The family residing in one of the destroyed homes returned from an event with relatives following the crash and verified that they were all together and accounted for, Moore said. The occupant of the neighboring property was also not there but was located later, unharmed, according to police.

The entire block of about 40 homes was evacuated, but most residents had returned Tuesday and could be seen standing outside their properties.

Nine people were displaced as a result of the fire. A few were assisted by the American Red Cross, while others received help from immediate and extended family, according to Reynolds.

— City News Service

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Flaming plane crash on 405 in Irvine: Desperate pilot, passenger critical, massive traffic jam

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A Cessna 310 airplane landed and burst into flames on the San Diego (405) Freeway in the Irvine area Friday, authorities said. Photo via OnScene.TV.

A Cessna with engine problems crash-landed on the San Diego (405) Freeway near John Wayne Airport Friday and burst into flames while trying to return to the airport, leaving the pilot and his passenger hospitalized in critical condition.

The plane crashed onto the most heavily traveled freeway in the nation at 9:35 a.m., causing an hours-long traffic nightmare at the outset of the Fourth of July weekend. However, there were no casualties on the ground.

The plane struck the center divider wall and caught fire before hitting the right wall on the southbound side, just north of MacArthur Boulevard, according to California Highway Patrol Cmdr. Ryan Shackleford.

Shackleford said three vehicles either struck the Cessna or parts of it on the southbound portion of the freeway and one vehicle struck some landing gear on the northbound portion, but no injuries resulted.

An Uber driver and his passenger had a close call when the man’s pickup truck was clipped on the left rear side, causing it to spin out, as did an off- duty fire captain who was the first to reach the injured pilot and his wife. His car hood was scraped by one of the Cessna’s wings.

Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Larry Kurtz noted it could have been a multi-casualty situation.

“You know as well as I do know all the traffic problems on the 405 no matter where you are, and for a plane to actually land on the freeway and only clip one vehicle is extraordinary, and the fact that the person in the vehicle also was pretty much uninjured is also extraordinary,” Kurtz told reporters.

“I talked to the individual (in the truck) and he said it definitely was a shock to him to suddenly see a plane on the freeway. But the great thing is that … right now all we have is a plane on the freeway.”

The Uber driver, Blackstone Hamilton, calmly relayed his close call when interviewed by reporters at the scene. He said that as his truck spun around, he and his passenger “had flames all around us (and) thought at first it was just a big rig that hit us.

Essentially (I) tried to regain control of my vehicle, checked my passenger to make sure he was OK, (then we) gave each other a hug that we were still alive.”

The pilot of the Cessna 310 radioed that he had lost one of his engines just after takeoff and then made a frantic mayday call to air traffic controllers seconds before the plane came down on the southbound lanes, north of the MacArthur Boulevard exit.

“We got a mayday! We got a mayday! … I can’t make it back to the airport,” he could be heard saying.

The 62-year-old pilot and his passenger, a 55-year-old woman, “both had critical, traumatic injuries” but “had good vitals when they were moved from the aircraft,” Kurtz said.

They were conscious when taken to Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana, he said. Their names were not immediately released.

The passenger was out of the plane, trying to aid the pilot, when John Meffert, an off-duty fire captain from Avalon on Catalina Island, came to their aid. First-responders arrived soon afterward and doused the flames using foam.

The pilot of the six-seater plane — registered to Twin Props 87297LLC and based out of Santa Ana — was trying to return to the airport with a crippled right engine minutes after takeoff when it crashed on the southbound lanes of the freeway about 1,000 feet short of Runway 20-R, according to Ian Gregor of the Federal Aviation Administration.

The airport was closed to arrivals from 9:36 a.m. to 10:14 a.m., but there were minimal disruptions to flights, according to John Wayne Airport Director Barry Rondinella, who said a handful of incoming flights were briefly diverted.

It was another story on the freeway, which was completely closed in both directions after the crash, creating a miles-long backup and gridlock on surrounding surface streets.

At one point, traffic was backed up for nine miles in the southbound lanes, said CHP Officer Agustin Latosquin. All northbound lanes were reopened by about 3:30 p.m., but all southbound lanes remained closed until about 4:45 p.m., when the carpool and far left main lane reopened.

Orange County Global Medical Center spokesman Jeff Corless said Friday evening that one of the patients was in a stable condition and the other was stable but guarded.

Both are expected survive, he said.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA, as well as the CHP, gathered evidence at the crash scene before removing the plane.

 

— City News Service

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