Second Body Found In L.A. Plane Collision
A second body has now been found in the wreckage of one of the planes involved in the midair collision that took down two Cessna aircraft yesterday.
The crash occurred at around 2 p.m. on Monday, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer.
Afte the planes collided one of the aircraft, a single-engine Cessna 172, crashed into a mountain ridge north of Malibu near Calabasas. The crash there started a half-acre brush fire that was soon put out.
"I can now confirm that there are two bodies in the wreckage that, regrettably, are deceased," Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said.
At first there was thought to be only one death attributed to that crash, making today's finding all the more unfortunate. There are not believed to be any other deaths associated with that wreck.
The other aircraft involved in the crash fared much better. The pilot of that airplane was able to maintain some semblence of control over the plane, and made an emergency landing at the Westlake Village Golf Course.
Officials and witnesses claimed that the landing gear on that plane was still up when it made its landing on the gold course. All three passengers aboard were relatively unharmed, though one did go to the hospital after complaining of back pain.
One golfer got a front row view of the aircraft as it made its crash landing. Aaron Jesse, 47, said he was mere yards away from the plane and was amazed at how smoothly it landed given the conditions. He said the plane only dug up about four inches of dirt and grass.
"Finally being a bad golfer paid off," Jesse said. "I hit it in the trees to the right. They landed 50 feet to the left of us in the center of the fairway. All we heard was a thud and then he made a gentle bounce and slid down the center of the fairway, veering to the left."