Pilot Killed When Attempting to Land

A pilot was killed Tuesday when his small plane crashed during an attempted landing at Fox Field in Lancaster.

The blue single-engine Cessna 182 went down about 10 a.m. in a field near 60th Street West and Avenue G, about a mile from the airport runway, authorities said. National Transportation Safety Board investigators had not determined the cause of the crash late Tuesday.

Authorities have not released the identity of the pilot, who apparently was alone in the plane. No one on the ground was injured.

Officials at Fox Field said they thought the pilot was not from the Lancaster area, and said they had no information about where his flight originated or where he was going. The pilot had been in touch with the Fox Field control tower, but officials there declined to elaborate, referring questions to NTSB investigators.

Several witnesses who were driving on 60th Street West at the time of the crash said they saw the plane fly straight into the ground.

“We were about a mile away and saw it going straight down,” said Jerry Calhoun, 46, of Lake Hughes. “It augured straight on in.”

Lynn Henson, 47, of Rosamond, was the first person to get to the scene and saw debris strewn over a wide area.

“It takes a moment to register,” Henson said. “I saw this blue plane going real fast straight down and then a big cloud of dirt flew up.”