Pilot dead after light plane crashes in LA amid dense fog

One particular person was killed when a single-engine aircraft slammed right into a grassy hillside above properties in a Los Angeles neighborhood amid dense fog, authorities mentioned.

The Cessna C172 crashed round 8.45pm Saturday native time (1.45pm Sunday AEST) on town’s west facet, about 13km south-east of Van Nuys Airport, the Los Angeles Fire Department and Federal Aviation Administration mentioned.

Joubin Solemani was at residence together with his household within the upscale Beverly Crest space once they all heard a loud crash.

A pilot has been killed after a light-weight aircraft crashed in dense fog in Los Angeles. (AP)

“We thought it might be a car crash, but we looked outside and didn’t see anything. We didn’t know what the heck it was,” Solemani mentioned.

“Then search-and-rescue showed up and were all over the hillside.”

After looking for a number of hours in darkness and “thick ground level fog,” crews discovered the crash web site and one particular person useless within the wreckage, the hearth division mentioned in a press release. The pilot was the aircraft’s lone occupant, the FAA mentioned.

The aircraft crashed not removed from properties. (AP)

When the solar got here up Sunday, Solemani mentioned he may see the aircraft a number of hundred metres above his property within the Santa Monica Mountains. “It’s totally mangled,” he mentioned.

The aircraft averted hitting energy traces and a big water tank and, officers mentioned, there was minimal fireplace.

An air site visitors controller initially reported the aircraft as lacking after shedding radar contact with the plane whereas it was en path to Van Nuys Airport, the hearth division mentioned in an alert shortly after 8pm Saturday.

The flight originated at Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport in Thermal, California, close to Palm Springs, based on the plane monitoring web site FlightAware.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will examine.