2 dead as aircrafts collide mid-air while landing in California
Two small aircrafts collided mid-air while trying to land at an airport in Watsonville in California leaving at least two persons dead on Friday 4 am (IST). In total, three people were onboard the two planes. As per local media reports, the planes were about 200 feet in the air when they crashed. One of the aircraft landed nearly 100 feet from houses.
How it went down?
One of the planes was a twin-engine Cessna 340 and the other was a single-engine Cessna 152. The bigger plane swerved into the wing of the other, sending it spiraling down and crashing at the edge of the airfield. The bigger plane also began plummeting. It crashed on the other side of the airport and burst into flames, according to the Federal Aviation Agency.
Watsonville city administration informed about the accident
Third air accident of the day
This was the third air accident of the day across California which left people injured. In another mishap, a elderly man suffered grave injuries when his single-engine aircraft crashed on the road and rammed into a car at El Cajon. In yet another incident, an ultralight aircraft crashed upside down on a building in Ventura County.
Small town airport has mostly agricultural transit
Watsonville is a town with a population of over 50,000 located 80 km south of San Jose on Monterey Bay. The Watsonville Municipal Airport has only two runaways and does not host commercial flights. It is home to more than 300 planes and handles over 55,000 operations per year — mostly regarding agricultural businesses or recreational.
