Five Dead in California Small Plane Crash

Published January 13, 2015

A twin-engine plane crashed in a fireball shortly after takeoff Wednesday, killing five people and critically injuring a sixth, authorities said.

A privately-owned Beechcraft King Air turboprop had taken off but was circling back when it went down at about 10:30 a.m. local time, Airport Director Mario Rodriguez said.

He did not immediately know why the plane turned around. The aircraft exploded in a fireball, he said.

Five people were pronounced dead at the scene and a man was taken to the hospital in critical condition, Rodriguez said.

The victims' identities were not immediately released.

The burning plane sparked a small ground fire that was quickly extinguished, Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Reeb said.

The front half of the plane and its wings came to rest on a grass median between two taxiways, which are used by planes to enter and leave runways. The plane left a scorched trail dozens of feet long as it apparently plowed through the grass.

Rodriguez said the crash closed the two taxiways and one of the airport's five runways. Commercial flights were not affected, he said.

It was the first crash at the airport in more than 30 years, Rodriguez said.

The plane was departing for Salt Lake City when it went down, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. An FAA website said the plane was registered to a Los Angeles company called Carde Equipment Sales LLC. There was no public phone listing for the company.

The cause of the crash was under investigation.

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