Two small planes collide in U.S., four dead
LOS ANGELES, Feb 7 (Reuters)
Two single-engine private planes collided above suburban Los Angeles on Monday, killing all four people on board as they crashed near two major freeways choked with morning rush hour traffic, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said.
Spokesman Bruce Nelson said an experimental, home-built airplane was preparing to land at suburban Van Nuys airport when it collided at 9:51 a.m. (12:51 p.m. EST/1751 GMT) with a Bellanca Catabria being used to inspect gas pipelines. The mid-air collision marked the second air crash in a week in the Los Angeles area. Last Monday, an Alaska Airlines jet carrying 88 people crashed into the Pacific Ocean off the southern California coast, killing all aboard. Nelson said four people -- three men and a woman -- had been confirmed killed in the collision above Sylmar, a northern suburb of Los Angeles. Two men were aboard one plane and one man and a woman on the other. One of the planes crashed to the ground on a golf course, but there were no reports of injuries on the ground.
"The experimental plane had called the Van Nuys tower and was inbound to land, and when the controller went back to the airplane he (the pilot) was gone,'' Nelson said. Jesus Romero, who was driving with a friend and saw the collision, told KNBC-TV that he saw one of the planes hit the ground. "It just went straight down and exploded on impact,'' Romero said.
15:19 02-07-00 Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved