Mid-Air Collision over Corona CA

[Rooster Cruiser]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,324174,00.html

This one was pretty close to home for us SoCal pilots.

CORONA, Calif. —  Two private planes flying about a mile from an airport collided Sunday, killing at least five people as debris rained down on car dealerships below, authorities said.

The two small Cessnas collided at 3:35 p.m. about a mile from the small Corona Municipal Airport and just north of the Riverside Freeway, said Wayne Pollack of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Two people were killed from each plane, and the fifth was inside a Chevy dealership that was hit by wreckage, Pollack said.

Click here for report from MyFOXLA.com.

"There were bodies falling out of the sky," eyewitness Hector Hernandez told KCBS-TV. "One of them crashed into the top of a Ford Mustang, and another one fell not too far behind that one on the parking lot."

"The smaller aircraft ... just disintegrated into pieces, maybe fifty pieces coming down," eyewitness Jeff Hardin told KABC-TV. "The other aircraft pretty much stayed intact and started spiraling down and came down right behind the Nissan dealer."

Wreckage fell on the dealerships and over an area of several hundred yards in Riverside County about 45 miles southeast of Los Angeles, and television pictures showed that the smashed fuselage of one of the planes landed atop a parked car.

Witnesses on the ground saw the planes crash and called 911, said Corona Police Sgt. Jerry Pawluczenko.

One of the planes, a Cessna 172, is registered to William A. Reinke of La Habra, Calif, according to aircraft databases.

NTSB investigators had yet to cut all the way through the twisted wreckage of that plane, and were unsure about the number of passengers, Pollack said.

"Until we open that aircraft up we cannot be certain how many people were on board," he said.

Pollock said investigators had not yet obtained a flight plan.

The other, a smaller Cessna 150, is registered to Air Corona, Inc., based in Dover Delaware.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer did not immediately know where either plane was headed or whether there were any distress calls.

The Corona airport does not have a staffed control tower, he said.

[Oddball]

ouch feel sorry for those involved  never good when you hear things like that 

[Rooster Cruiser]

If you click on the link to the news story, they have some photos of the wreckage of one of the airplanes.

[Mike]

Man, that's too bad. News like that makes my stomach turn upside-down . . .

I know Corona really well from passing through. Radio Comms are an issue there due to the close proximity to Ontario, Chino, and Riverside (C,D, and D)
so I find myself often listening to a "bigger" and "more important" frequency rather than Coronas UNICOM. Not very comfortable....
Cable Airport is kind of like that as well.....

[TheSoccerMom]

A very sad thing!  Condolences to the families and friends of those affected...  it's so, so sad.

I just heard a short bit on the radio, mentioning a number of prior aircraft accidents in that specific area....  I just WISH they would have added, "in some of the busiest airspace there is"!!!  That is one demanding area to fly in VFR....   what a shame.

 

[PiperGirl]

Uggg...  This is always bad news. Praying for the families.

[Frank N. O.]

My condolences.

Frank

[Mike]

A very sad thing!  Condolences to the families and friends of those affected...  it's so, so sad.

I just heard a short bit on the radio, mentioning a number of prior aircraft accidents in that specific area....  I just WISH they would have added, "in some of the busiest airspace there is"!!!  That is one demanding area to fly in VFR....   what a shame.

 

I really hope this doesn't help the people who want to shut airports down in LA.
Sure gave them a lot of ammo over night......

[airtac]

I believe that CAVU conditions make a lot of pilots more relaxed because they feel they will see traffic easier----ain't really so.  CAVU just means there are going to be more airplanes out there having fun--good rule of thumb is to be more aware as the sky clears---keep your head moving folks--it's the spot that's NOT moving on the windscreen that's gonna get you.