In San Diego also:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...s/13824218.htm
Posted on Thu, Feb. 09, 2006
Three killed when two small planes collide in San Diego County
ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press
EL CAJON, Calif. - Federal investigators were working Thursday to determine what caused two small planes to collide mid-flight over this east San Diego suburb, killing three people on board and leaving wreckage strewn over a wide area.
The collision occurred about 4:40 p.m. Wednesday, said city spokeswoman Monica Zech. Fire officials said no one was injured on the ground.
Two people were aboard a plane that came crashing down in a park, El Cajon Fire Chief Mike Scott said. The other person killed was aboard a plane that landed in a home, igniting a small attic fire that was quickly extinguished. No one was inside the home, Scott said.
Bryce Segaux, an 18-year-old senior at Grossmont High School, was working in the school's auto shop when he saw a small plane sputter, lose altitude and crash into another aircraft.
"There was a big old fireball," Segaux said.
Driving to nearby Harry Griffen Park in La Mesa, Segaux said he saw two bodies among the wreckage.
Chris Rohan, 29, of El Cajon was walking his dog at the park when he heard a loud explosion. Rohan said he looked up and saw three or four pieces of flaming debris falling from the sky. A wing landed about a foot away from his car, he said.
"Everyone was panicking," Rohan said.
Authorities closed the park after the crash and cordoned off the scene. Investigators also restricted the area around the home where the second plane crashed. Several nearby residents were evacuated.
The National Transportation Safety Board was handling the investigation.
It was not immediately known where the planes originated or where they were headed.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...7-midair4.html
3 die as two planes collide in fireballs over El Cajon
SIGNONSANDIEGO
9:51 p.m. February 8, 2006
EL CAJON – Three people died when two small planes collided in fireballs Wednesday in the sky near Grossmont High School in El Cajon, authorities and witnesses said.
Witnesses reported seeing two bodies on the ground, believed to be from one of the aircraft. A third body was reported elsewhere, believed from the other.
Authorities confirmed three dead in the collision around 4:40 p.m., and said no injuries on the ground were reported.
“I happened to look up and saw two balls of fire,” said Rod Jeter, a real estate broker who was driving nearby at the time of the collision.
Part of a burning wing fell onto the roof and then into the front yard of a house in the 600 block of Hawthorne Avenue, igniting the roof and attic, said El Cajon Fire Chief Mike Scott. The house was unoccupied, and firefighters extinguished the flames.
Much of the debris fell along Hawthorne and Live Oak Drive, Scott said. The bulk of one of the aircraft fell, burning, into Harry Griffen Park in bordering La Mesa, where firefighters quickly extinguished the flames, he said.
A piece of wreckage that appeared to be part of a fuselage came to rest in the back yard of a home on Live Oak.
Other debris from the incident appeared scattered over a half-mile-square area of El Cajon and La Mesa, 1˝ miles south of Gillespie Field, a general aviation airport. Authorities asked anyone who found pieces of wreckage to leave them in place and telephone (619) 579-3311.
Many witnesses initially reported the collision to be between a small plane and a helicopter. One knowledgeable witness even identified the aircraft specifically as a Robinson R22, a small helicopter commonly used for flight training and photography.
But authorities later said the collision involved two Cessna fixed-wing aircraft.
Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were on the scene investigating Wednesday night, with La Mesa firefighters lighting one of the debris fields at Harry Griffen Park.
Joe Delacruz was in the back yard of a friend's house on Hawthorne when the sound of a plane “popping, backfiring,” caused them to turn around and look up.
“It sounded like the plane was sputtering, like it was having a hard time flying,” Delacruz said.
The two then witnessed the collision.
“I looked up and I saw the wing and the bulk of the aircraft coming down in flames,” Delacruz said.
He said he also saw what appeared to be the bubble portion of a helicopter cockpit falling from the sky.
Jeter, who had been driving on state Route 125, said although he saw the fireballs, he saw no explosion. “First I thought maybe it was somebody's (toy) rocket, but then I said that's too big to be somebody's (toy),” Jeter said.
“That's it, they both fell. The bigger one, I think, was the helicopter. They were already on fire before they hit (the ground). I've never seen anything like that before.”
Palm Springs resident Gary Embrey was driving on state Route 125 when the accident occurred.
“I was just looking ahead and saw a big black plume of smoke, (and) flame and parts spewing out to the side,” he said. “Then it all fell to the ground. It was parts just falling.”
Another witness, a Grossmont High student, told reporters he watched part of an aircraft – which he took to be a helicopter – hit the ground, saw someone inside the wreckage and realized that person could not have survived.
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SignOnSanDiego's Jeffrey J. Rose, Steve Perez, Alan Drooz and Zachary Woodruff contributed to this story, and wire service reports were used in compiling it.