Three killed in small plane crash near Big Bear airport, authorities say
Three people aboard a small plane were killed Monday after it crashed in a residential neighborhood in Big Bear, about a mile from the city’s airport, according to authorities.
The plane — a single-engine Beechcraft A36, according to the Federal Aviation Administration — smashed into a field near the intersection of Paradise Way and Maltby Boulevard around 2 p.m., the Big Bear Fire Department posted on Twitter.
Witnesses described a “loud boom” followed by a grisly wreck.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” said Mike Hanson, who lives about two blocks from the crash site and happened on the wreckage just minutes after the airplane came down. “[It looked like] they just kind of got swept over the landing toward the airport, and just, bam, into the ground.”
Thick fog hampered the search for a light plane that was reported missing near Mulholland Drive and Beverly Glen Boulevard.
Hanson said he immediately pulled over and rushed to help another neighbor search for survivors.
“Him and I were yelling out to the airplane, ‘Anybody alive?’” Hanson said. “And he turned to me and shook his head.”
Airport authorities could not immediately comment on the details of the crash, the second deadly small plane crash in a residential neighborhood in Southern California in three days. One person was killed Saturday night in the crash of a single-engine plane near Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles.
Hanson, who lives directly under the flight path for Big Bear City Airport, believes it was a landing gone wrong.
“It was headed in the direction that all planes are making their final approach on today, towards the west approaching from the east,” he said. “I could hear two planes in the last 20 minutes have just touched down in the same flight pattern.”
Snow Summit is the only Big Bear Mountain Resort in Southern California offering skiing and snowboarding as Bear Mountain and Snow Valley have closed for the season.
Big Bear is home to some of Southern California’s most popular ski resorts. The small airport sees lots of weekend and holiday traffic, as well as military exercises during the week, Hanson 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.
