Two planes collide mid-air at California airport, killing ‘many people’
Two planes collided mid-air at a California airport on Thursday afternoon, causing “multiple deaths,” according to officials.
The crash happened Thursday afternoon at Watsonville Municipal Airport in Watsonville, California, a town of just over 50,000 people about 50 miles south of San Jose.
“Multiple agencies responded to Watsonville City Airport after two planes attempting to land collided. We have reports of multiple deaths,” the City of Watsonville Twitter account said.
The Federal Aviation Administration says that a single-engine Cessna 152 and a twin-engine Cessna 340 collided as their respective pilots were on their final approaches.
Officials say one person was in the Cessna 152 and two in the Cessna 340, but it did not clarify their conditions. No one on the ground at the crash site reported any injuries, even though the collision happened just a few meters from a residential street.
One of the planes appears to have hit a coat hanger at the airport, while the other can be seen in news video in a nearby field.
Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board have launched investigations into the crash, while the California Highway Patrol has closed roads around the crash site.
Watsonville City Airport has only two runways and does not serve any commercial flights.