2 Men Dead After Home-Built Plane Crashes In Ventura County
SANTA PAULA (CBSLA) — Two men died Saturday afternoon after the small kit plane they were in crashed into a shed in Ventura County.
Investigators from local law enforcement agencies, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating the crash, which happened about a mile outside the City of Santa Paula.
#MainIncident: 2nd photo view of crash, small fire put out by Santa Paula FD, no people on ground injured pic.twitter.com/A4XXEi7Ohd
— VCFD PIO (@VCFD_PIO) March 31, 2018
Capt. Steve Swindle with the Ventura County Fire Dept. described the scene as "gruesome."
"It was a very, very hard impact. It actually tore the plane in quite a few pieces," said Swindle.
The plane was described as a single-engine, two-seater RV-6A kit plane sold by Van's Aircraft.
A man working at the ranch on the property where the plane crashed told authorities he ran for cover when he looked up and saw the plane going north to south as it lost altitude.
The downed plane belonged to a person in Palmdale, FAA records show.
Investigators are attempting to piece together a timeline of when and how the plane went down, as the relatively small Santa Paula Airport does not have a control tower.
The victims have not been identified.