3 Die, 1 Critically Injured in Plane Crash

A single-engine plane lost power and crashed Thursday in Santa Clarita, killing the pilot and two passengers and critically injuring a child on board.

The child, a 13-year-old girl, was taken by helicopter to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia, where she was in critical condition and breathing with the help of a respirator late Thursday afternoon, hospital spokeswoman Jane McCue said. The girl’s name and the identities of the other victims, a man and two women, were withheld until relatives could be notified.

The plane, a Trinidad TB-21 four-seater en route from Sacramento to Van Nuys Airport, crashed at about 2:10 p.m. in rugged terrain west of Sierra Highway and south of Placerita Canyon Road, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elly Brekke.

Eyewitnesses said the pilot appeared to have been trying to land on Sierra Highway, when the plane hit a high-voltage power line and plummeted to the ground.

Four minutes before the crash, the pilot had radioed the Van Nuys tower to report engine problems and ask for directions to the nearest airport, airport spokesman Bob Hayes said. The plane crashed moments after an air traffic controller gave directions and told the pilot to switch to a “Mayday” radio frequency, Hayes said.

The pilot was operating under visual flight rules and was not being guided by ground controllers, Brekke said.

Eyewitness John Stephens was taking pictures of a nearby auto accident and, after seeing the plane crash, went to check on the victims. Stephens said the pilot was a man who appeared to be in his 60s. The two women who died also appeared to be in their 60s, he said.

The injured girl lay on her back in the brush after apparently having been thrown several feet from the red-colored plane, Stephens and other eyewitnesses said.

“There was no engine noise at all,” said Jason Moore, 22, who saw the crash while working at a nearby construction site. “It was just gliding. It made a hard right turn . . . and then it clipped a wire and we heard it crash.”

“It looked like it didn’t have any power,” said Scott Fiscus, 26, another construction worker. “The pilot was coasting and trying to get his nose up. We saw it clip the wire and part of the plane flew off.”

Investigators from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board remained at the crash scene late Thursday.

Times staff writer Hector Tobar contributed to this article.