Authorities investigate report of second plane down near Calabasas
Federal aviation authorities are investigating a report of a second plane crash in the Santa Monica Mountains near Calabasas but it was not immediately clear if it was related to an earlier emergency landing at a nearby golf course.
FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer said in a statement that the agency is “working two possible airplane accidents.”
The first was a Westlake [Village] incident -- an emergency landing on a golf course. The second, Kenitzer said, is in the Mulholland Drive area.
A sergeant with the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lost Hills-Malibu station said they believe a second aircraft had gone down but did not yet have official confirmation from the site.
Capt. Tom Richards of the county Fire Department said a camp crew was hiking into a rugged area off Mulholland and Las Virgenes Drive to investigate a report of “plane wreckage.”
“There has been a report of wreckage,” Richards told The Times. “It’s unconfirmed.”
He said it was unclear whether this was connected to the incident in which a Cessna landed at a Westlake golf course about 2:15 p.m. Monday.
In that incident, a small plane made an emergency belly landing in the middle of the third fairway on Monday afternoon, resulting in non-life-threatening injuries to three people, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said.
County fire officials and witnesses said the landing gear was still up when the plane came down. Three people were aboard the plane, one of whom complained of back pain and was taken to a hospital.
Golfer Aaron Jesse, 47, said the plane came in silently and hit the ground with a thud.
Jesse said the plane clipped a tree, which spun the aircraft around 180 degrees. Jesse marveled that the piloted seemed to land gently -- taking out only four inches of grass and dirt.
“Finally being a bad golfer paid off,” Jesse said. “I hit it in the trees to the right. They landed 50 feet to the left of us in the center of the fairway. All we heard was a thud and then he made a gentle bounce and slid down the center of the fairway, veering to the left.”
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