Just before dawn on Saturday, a small plane was making its second of two attempts to land at a Southern California airport when it crashed into a field and caught fire, killing six people, according to police.
Around 4:15 in the morning, a Cessna C550 business plane crashed.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, Murrieta is about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.
According to the Riverside County Fire Department, it took firefighters more than an hour to put out the fires, which had burned nearly an acre of grass near French Valley Airport.
According to Elliott Simpson, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, the plane, which has a maximum seating capacity of 13, crashed about 500 feet (150 meters) short of the designated runway.
At an afternoon press conference, Simpson informed the media that “the majority of the airplane, with the exception of the tail, was consumed by fire.”
About 200 feet (60 meters) of debris were being searched through by investigators, he said.
According to a statement from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office, all six passengers passed away immediately.
None of the victims, who were all adults, were instantly recognized.
According to the NTSB, the jet crashed during its second approach after taking off from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas for a 45-minute flight to Murietta.
Due to the poor visibility caused by the low cloud ceiling, the pilot was given the go-ahead to land using just instruments, according to Simpson.
According to him, “the visibility and ceilings allowed for a landing, but it was right on the minimums” of the rules established for that airport.
Investigators will listen to the pilot’s and air traffic control’s recorded conversations.
The NTSB stated that a preliminary report would be available in roughly two weeks.
The jet is shown as being owned by Prestige Worldwide Flights LLC of Imperial, California, in the FAA’s aircraft tracking database.
It was impossible to contact firm representatives for comment. At the little county-owned airport in Murrieta, a city of approximately 112,000 people, it was the second tragic crash this week.
On July 4, a single-engine Cessna 172 crashed in a parking lot shortly after takeoff from French Valley, leaving one man dead and three others wounded.
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