SAN DIEGO (AP) — Multiple people on board a private plane that crashed into a San Diego military housing neighborhood during foggy weather early Thursday are dead but no one on the ground was injured, authorities said.
The plane could hold eight to 10 people but it’s not yet known how many were on board, Assistant San Diego Fire Chief Dan Eddy said at a news conference. Authorities will be investigating whether the plane hit a power line, he said.
The aircraft crashed just before 4 a.m. into the U.S. military’s largest housing neighborhood, appearing to strike at least one home that had a charred and collapsed roof and smashing through half a dozen vehicles. About 10 homes suffered damage but no one inside the homes needed transport to the hospital, authorities said.
San Diego officials haven’t released details about the plane but said it was a flight coming in from the Midwest. The flight tracking site FlightAware lists a Cessna Citation II jet that was scheduled to arrive at the Montgomery-Gibbs Executive airport in San Diego at 3:47 a.m. from the small Colonel James Jabara Airport in Wichita, Kansas. Officials at the airport said it just made a fueling stop in Wichita. The flight originated Wednesday night in Teterboro, New Jersey, according to FlightAware.
The airport in Teterboro is about 6 miles (10 kilometers) from Manhattan and is frequently used by private and corporate jets.
In the San Diego neighborhood, smell of jet fuel lingered in the air hours after the crash while authorities worked to put out one stubborn car fire. They described a frightening scene in the aftermath of the crash.
“I can’t quite put words to describe what the scene looks like, but with the jet fuel going down the street, and everything on fire all at once, it was pretty horrific to see,” San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said.
Half a dozen fully charred cars sat on the street and tree limbs, glass and pieces of white and blue metal were scattered on the road. At the end of the street black smoke billowed as the site continued to burn.
Wahl said more than 50 police officers were on the scene within minutes and began evacuating homes. At least 100 residents were displaced to an evacuation center at a nearby elementary school.
Christopher Moore, who lives one street over from the crash site, said he and his wife were awakened by a loud bang and saw smoke when they looked out the window.
They grabbed their two young children and ran out of the house. On their way out of the neighborhood they saw a car engulfed in flames.
“It was definitely horrifying for sure, but sometimes you’ve just got to drop your head and get to safety,” he said.
Police rescued three husky puppies from one of the homes and rolled them away from the crash scene in a wagon. A few blocks away, families including Moore’s stood in their pajamas in a parking lot waiting for word of when they can return to their homes.
The neighborhood is made up of single family homes and townhomes. Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport and Gillespie Field are nearby.
Eddy said it was very foggy at the time the private plane crashed. “You could barely see in front of you,” he said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation.
In October 2021, a twin-engine plane plowed into a San Diego suburb, killing the pilot and a UPS delivery driver on the ground and burning homes. It was preparing to land at the airport.
In December 2008, a Marine Corps fighter jet slammed into a house in San Diego’s University City neighborhood, causing an explosion that killed four people inside. The Marine Corps blamed the crash on mechanical failure and human error.
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Associated Press writer Josh Funk contributed from Omaha, Nebraska.
