Post date: Sep 30, 2013 1:39:55 PM
USA ( Next Media) - A small business jet veered off the runway at Santa Monica Airport in Southern California on Sunday evening and crashed into a hangar, causing an explosion and fire that collapsed the burning hangar around it.
According to a Reuters report: “The twin-engine Cessna Citation, which departed from Hailey, Idaho, went off the right side of the runway after landing at the airport at 6:20 p.m. local time, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.”
The report continues:There was no information on the number of people aboard the aircraft or their conditions, Gregor said. He could not confirm a tail number identifying the aircraft.
The Cessna Citation family of jets have a seating capacity for between five and nine people.
Calls to the Santa Monica Fire Department, the primary responder to the crash scene, were not immediately returned late on Sunday.
News pictures taken shortly after the crash showed billowing black smoke curling up over aircraft at the airport, which serves communities west of downtown Los Angeles.
Subsequent images showed the tail of an aircraft protruding from the partly collapsed hangar, flanked by fire trucks. A source close to the investigation, who asked not to be identified, said the collapsed hangar prevented fire officials from accessing the wreckage.
According to local news station NBC4, Santa Monica Fire Department CaptainJohn Nevandro said the crash was “unsurvivable.”
SOURCES: Reuters, NBC, CBS, Los Angeles Times,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/30/us-crash-santamonica-idUSBRE98T02W20130930
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Small-Plane-Crashes-at-Santa-Monica-Airport-225740681.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57605199/small-jet-hits-hangar-at-santa-monica-airport/
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-plane-crash-santa-monica-airport-20130929,0,4797899.story
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-fire-plane-crash-santa-monica-airport-20130929,0,6649986.story
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