July 27, 2010 – OCEANSIDE — One person was killed Tuesday when a small plane crashed in a field not far from the Oceanside Municipal Airport.
The crash, which left the aircraft engulfed in flames, was reported about 11 a.m. at South El Camino Real and Vista Oceana, Oceanside police said.
The twin-engine plane had just taken off from the Oceanside airport when it experienced some kind of problem and crashed about one-third of a mile away, said Michael Drake, a spokesman with county Public Works Department.
Drake said two county employees were loading larvicide onto a helicopter at the east end of the runway when the plane took off.
“They saw the plane taking off and it sounded like it had an engine problem,” said Drake. “He barely cleared the trees.”
“The plane just flew over them. They said it appeared to be kind of circling back around and it went down in the ravine adjacent to the highway.”
The plane we
nt down behind San Luis Rey Elementary school. No structures were in the immediate area. The crash site is south of state Route 76.
“It’s an open field,” said Oceanside police Lt. Leonard Mata. He said firefighters had the flames under control.
Federal Aviation Administration records show the plane, a twin-engine Beech 95-B55 built in 1968, is owned by Judd C. Edward of San Clemente. Authorities could not say who was piloting the craft.
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