A single-engine two-seat plane crashed in a field near French Valley Airport in Murrieta this morning, killing the two people on board, fire officials said.
A farmer who lives nearby spotted the small white plane just before it crashed into a field next to Winchester Road north of Benton Road about 11:50 a.m.
“It looked like it was making an approach to the airport and then it just all of a sudden kind of rolled up and then nose-dived,” said David Borel, 44. Borel said he is not a pilot, but living near the airport, he has become accustomed to low-flying planes and can recognize an unsafe ascent or descent.
The plane seemed to be flying dangerously low, he said, and he figured the pilot was attempting a stunt.
“That’s too low to be doing a rollover at that altitude,” Borel said he thought. He then watched the plane hit the field, the impact of the crash turning it into “a big old pile of rubbish.”
“It’s hard to tell it’s even a plane,” Borel said as he stood at the crash site this afternoon, thinking of the two who died. “My heart goes out to the families.”
Investigators are still trying to identify the people killed in the crash, said Riverside County Fire Department spokeswoman Cheri Patterson.
Winchester Road is a busy thoroughfare between Murrieta, Hemet and Temecula, but no one on the ground was injured by the crash, Patterson said. Skid marks indicate the plane cleared a guardrail next to Winchester Road and touched down in the field before crashing, said Riverside County Fire Capt. Sean Dakin.
“The plane is just destroyed,” Dakin said. “There’s a piece of the tail left and that’s it.”
Local investigators notified Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board officials, who were en route to the crash scene this afternoon, Patterson said. The investigation will be handled by the Murrieta fire and police departments, Dakin said.
Investigators are questioning witnesses about what may have caused the crash, Dakin said. It was unclear whether the plane was taking off or landing, Patterson said. French Valley Airport does not have an air control tower, he said.
West Coast 911 firefighter news source – LA Times
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