YORBA LINDA, Calif. (AP) — Two people died and two others were injured after a small plane apparently came apart, dropping parts that scattered across a Southern California neighborhood and ignited a house fire before landing in a backyard, witnesses and authorities said Sunday.
The crash shook the Yorba Linda neighborhood about 2 p.m. after the twin-engine Cessna 414A took off from the Fullerton Municipal Airport about a dozen miles west of the blaze, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said.
The pilot was the only person in the twin-engine plane, though authorities have not determined who among the dead and injured were on board or on the ground.
A two-story house burst into flames after being struck by a plane part, sending panicked neighbors into the streets.
“It was a boom. It sounded like something exploded. It shook our house,” said John Wolbart, who lives a block away.
He said he ran to the house and saw a woman come out with singed hair.
The wounded were taken to a hospital with burn injuries, said Pokey Sanchez, an assistant chief with the Orange County Fire Authority. A firefighter was also treated for a minor injury.
Clint Langford, who lives about a half-mile away, said he was in his living room when he heard a rumbling.
“It’s the eerie, low rumbling sound that keeps getting lower and louder. It was scary,” he said. “And then all of a sudden boom. It shook the house.”
He looked out his front door and could see plane parts falling out the sky in the distance.
Rain from a winter storm helped firefighters extinguish the house fire.
The National Transportation and Safety Board will investigate the cause of the crash.
