Bystanders pulled a pilot out of a Cessna 172 that went down on a set of train tracks near Whiteman Airport in Pacoima on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 9, before a train came along several minutes later and slammed into the immobilized aircraft.
The small plane crash-landed on the tracks adjacent to the airport, near the intersection of Osborne Street and San Fernando Road, Los Angeles Fire Department officials said. The heavily damaged plane was partially in the path of a passing Amtrak locomotive that collided at full speed with the aircraft’s rear end.
“He’s out of there, they got him out!” people were heard shouting in footage recorded at the scene by a news videographer with OC Hawk just moments after the train smashed the tail of the plane.
The pilot was the sole occupant of the plane, Los Angeles Fire Department officials said. That person was freed from the wreck about 20 minutes before the train barreled into it, said Rocio Duran, a bystander at the scene.
The pilot was transported to a hospital. No one on the ground or in the train was reported injured.
The aircraft, built in 1967, took off from Whiteman Airport at about 2:10 p.m., according to Federal Aviation Administration officials. Its registration is valid through May 2025 and it is owned by a resident of Santa Clarita.
The plane remained on the tracks as of 3 p.m. Sunday, halting all train traffic through the area. Portions of the plane’s engine and fuselage, as well as broken railway crossing signs, littered the ground around the crash site. A small amount of fuel that leaked out of it was contained by firefighters.
The cause of the emergency landing was under investigation by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board.
Further information was not immediately released.
Source link
