Neighbors Recall California Plane Crash

YORBA LINDA, Calif. (AP) — A small plane shook homes and "sounded like a missile" as it broke apart and rained chunks of metal into a Southern California neighborhood, igniting a house fire that killed four people, witnesses said Monday. The pilot, a retired Chicago police officer living in Nevada, also died Sunday. Investigators were collecting pieces of the plane that fell into homes across about four blocks in Yorba Linda, a community southeast of Los Angeles. "The witnesses I've spoken with say that they saw the airplane coming out of the clouds — it was still in one piece — and then they saw the tail breaking off and then the wing breaking off and then something like smoke before the airplane impacted the ground," said Maja Smith, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board. Those witnesses did not report an explosion while the twin-engine propeller-driven Cessna 414A was in the air, she said. Antonio Pastini, 75, of Gardnerville, Nevada, was the only person aboard, Orange County Sheriff's Lt. Cory Martino said. Authorities were trying to identify the people who died in the house, describing them only as two males and two females. Martino said DNA may be required because of the condition of the bodies. Two other people were hospitalized with moderate injuries, he said. Yorba Linda resident Dave Elfver said he was getting ready to go to a friend's house to watch the Super Bowl when he heard a whining sound "like a motorcycl...
Source: JEMS: Journal of Emergency Medical Services News - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Major Incidents News Source Type: news