Jet Crashes in California Neighborhood, No Survivors Located
A small private jet crashed in a residential neighborhood just outside San Diego on Monday.
The Learjet35A with four passengers aboard flew out of John Wayne Airport in Orange County and then crashed and burned near El Cajon, according to the Times of San Diego.
No survivors have been found.
“There is very little left of the aircraft. We weren’t able to find any survivors,” Fire Chief Don Butz of the Lakeside Fire Protection District said, according to the Times.
“When firefighters arrived at the scene there was significant rain occurring and there was a large debris field that stretched about 200 feet,” Butz added, according to WBRZ-TV.
“The firefighters observed a significant fireball and smoke from the fire station — the fire station is a half a mile away from the scene,” he said.
In air traffic control audio, the pilot can be heard screaming “Oh sh**!” just before the plane seems to have crashed.
The jet went down in the middle of a residential street around 7:15 p.m.
The local airport reported that visibility dropped below one mile around 6:50 p.m., with cloud ceilings below 500 feet. The poor visibility lasted until about 8 p.m.
The crash left the neighborhood largely unharmed. One car and one home were damaged, according to the Times.
Power lines were also knocked down, which affected about 350 homes in the area, the outlet reported.
Residents said they heard loud noises and saw the fire from the burning plane.
One resident’s security camera captured footage of the plane going down in the distance.
“My wife and I heard a loud thunderous noise, and I knew something was wrong,” he said.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
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