Small Plane Crashes in Field but Pilot Is Unhurt
A newly purchased private plane, en route from Madera, Calif., to John Wayne Airport in Newport Beach, crashed in a Tustin field Saturday, but the pilot was able to walk away.
The pilot, who was traveling alone and asked that his identity be withheld, told police that he left Madera about 2 p.m. in the twin-engine, 1963 Piper Aztec.
About two hours later, while flying under visual flight rules over the Costa Mesa Freeway, both engines stopped simultaneously. The pilot turned east, he told police, away from developed areas until he reached an agricultural area, where he tried to land in a field north of Irvine Boulevard and east of Browning Avenue.
After a slide of several hundred feet through the field, which damaged the plane’s engines, its nose, the landing gear and the fuselage, the craft came to a halt.
In addition to Tustin police, Orange County Fire Department and Sheriff’s Department personnel arrived, but there was no fire and the pilot was unhurt.
The cause of the accident is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, police said.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
