PICTURED: Pilot killed along with five others when small plane crashed 500ft from the runway in California – after telling air traffic control he could not see the landing strip in dense fog
- A Cessna C550 Citation jet crashed in Southern California killing all six on board
- The pilot was attempting to land but a dense layer of fog compromised visibility
- It is the second fatal incident at the French Valley Airport in less than a week
Six people died when the plane they were on crash-landed in southern California.
A Cessna C550 Citation jet was attempting to land at French Valley Airport when foggy conditions prevented the pilot from clearly seeing the runway.
After aborting an initial landing attempt it crashed on the second when it missed the runway by around 500 feet and went up in flames
All passengers on board the plane, which was arriving from Las Vegas, died in the crash, according to the Riverside County Fire Department. The resulting fire set alight an acre of vegetation before crews were able to put it out.
It was the second fatal incident at French Valley Airport in less than a week – on Tuesday a single-engine Cessna 172 crashed in the parking lot soon after taking off, killing one of the four people on board.
A Cessna C550 Citation was attempting to land at French Valley Airport when foggy conditions prevented the pilot from being able to see the runway properly. Pictured is the site of the crash and what remained of the plane after it caught on fire
Flight tracking information from Flight Aware shows the plane aborted its first landing before returning to make a second unsuccessful attempt
The small business jet, year was being piloted by 25-year-old Riese Lenders.
Among those on board were two married couples that live in the area – Manuel Vargas-Regalado, 32, and his wife Abigail Tellez-Vargas, 33, as well as Ibrahem, 46, and his wife Alma Razick, 51.
The final victim was 31-yar-old Lindsey Gleiche of Huntington Beach.
The crash was reported around 4.15am in the area of Auld and Briggs roads in Murrieta, which is between Los Angeles and San Diego.
National Transportation Safety Board said in a press conference held on Saturday that a ‘marine layer’ of fog – common around coastal southern California – had descended upon the runway.
The pilot told air traffic controllers that he was going to perform a go around and abort his first landing, which they approved.
The sooty remains of the Cessna Citation jet which had crashed near to French Valley Airport between San Diego and Los Angeles
Foggy conditions around the airport were caused by a ‘marine layer’, which is common around coastal southern California. Pictured is the crash site and surrounding areas on Saturday morning after the crash
Flight tracking information from Flight Aware shows that the twin-jet aircraft abandoned its first attempt at an altitude of less than 1,600 feet and a speed of around 170 mph.
It then looped back around and attempted to make the landing the second time, but crashed several hundred feet before the runway, around 58 minutes after it took off from Harry Reid International in Nevada.
Photos captured later in the morning during the recovery phase showed thig fog around the airport
French Valley is an airport in the hills north of San Diego at an altitude of around 1,350 feet.
The plane that crashed taking off from the airport on Tuesday was being piloted by a father who was flying with his three children. He died and the children survived.
In November 2021, a pilot died on a hillside near the airport after crashing his Zodiac plane. When deputies arrived, they found the man, the plane’s sole occupant, dead inside the aircraft.
