Posted September 3, 2015, by FOX 5 Digital Team
SAN DIEGO, CA
One person died and another was critically injured Thursday when a single engine plane crashed in the driveway of a house in Santee Thursday morning, authorities said.
Emergency crews were went to the home in 8000 block of Paseo de Los Castillo after the crash was reported at about 9:15 a.m. near Gillespie Field in Santee. The house is located at the end of Gillespie Field's runway.
The plane, a single-engine Piper Cherokee, was registered to Volar Corporation, a flight school based in El Cajon. Two people were on board the plane, which crashed for unknown reasons just after taking off from Gillespie Field, according to Ian Gregory with the Federal Aviation Administration.
Crews worked to free the a person who reportedly survived the crash from the wreckage . An ambulance drove away from the scene, but it was not clear if it anyone was in it.
"I heard the sputtering of a plane – a sound that you hear right before a plane is about to die," said Greg, a homeowner who lives two blocks from the crash site.
Tommy McCormick, 13, was home sick from school and woke up to a loud explosion.
"I thought it was a car crash and heard people screaming 'Fire!'" McCormick said. "I looked outside and saw the plane had crashed. Two people who live there ran outside and were looking in the plane, but couldn't do anything to get the pilot out."
McCormick's mother Debbie told FOX 5 that she received a call from him right after the plane crashed.
"Living near the airport you expect this might happen. It's just scary that it was a day when he was home sick," Debbie said.
The two people who live in the house where the plane crashed were "alright," according to Debbie.
Plane was registered to a flight school.
[This story originally reported the plane had crashed into a house.]
| Date: | 03-SEP-2015 |
| Time: | 09:20 |
| Type: |  Piper PA-28-161 Warrior II |
| Owner/operator: | Golden State Flying Club |
| Registration: | N8441B |
| C/n / msn: | 28-8216005 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Airplane damage: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | Near Gillespie Field Airport (KSEE), San Diego/El Cajon, CA -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Unknown |
| Nature: | Unknown |
| Departure airport: | |
The aircraft impacted a vehicle and residential terrain in Santee west of Gillespie Field Airport (KSEE), San Diego/El Cajon, California. The airplane came to rest inverted sustaining substantial damage. One occopant was killed. The other occupant received serious injuries.
This plane had at least one previous incident:
Published on May 4, 2013
SANTEE
- May 4, 2013 - A small plane had to make an emergency landing on State
Route 52 just after 6PM after suffering an engine failure. The pilot
was able to safely land in the westbound lanes of the highway and park
it in an onramp gore point, out of traffic. The plane didn't suffer any
damage and there were no injuries. This may have been a student taking a
flying class, as the older gentleman tells me the younger man was the
pilot and is credited with the successful landing. Passing motorists had
to double-take as they passed the plane. Some passengers even pulled
out their cellphones to take photos. Plane tail number is N8441B and is
registered as a 1981 Piper Warrior fixed-wing single-engine 4-seat plane
registered to Volar Corporation out of El Cajon, California.The above information has not been completely verified. It may be based on several sources and is intended as preliminary information only.
Address: WB 52 JWO 125
Agencies: CHP
