Small Plane Crash Kills 2, Sparks Fire
A small plane crashed Saturday afternoon, killing two men and sparking a brush fire five miles south of Lake Elsinore.
The plane that crashed about 1:35 p.m. was one of two that took off about 1 p.m. from Chino Airport. The second plane reported the crash, and authorities received several 911 calls about the crash and fire, said Riverside County Fire Department spokeswoman Joanne Evans.
The plane was a two-seat, single-engine Christian Eagle. The two men aboard were reportedly on a pleasure flight, said Bryce Nelson of the Federal Aviation Administration. Their identities were not immediately made public.
The cause of the crash was under investigation, Nelson said.
The seven-acre fire in the Rancho California area near the boundaries of Lake Elsinore, Temecula and Murrieta occurred in the Santa Rosa Ecological Reserve, where firefighters are barred from using bulldozers or fire retardant.
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