Mid-Air collision, Corona, CA

[Sprint100]

A mid-air collision has been reported over here by Corona. They say 4 are dead, no other news yet. The pieces on the ground look like a 152 or 172.

[aloft]

Local news is reporting a mid-air collision over Corona, CA. Appears to be a Cessna and possibly a Cirrus, from the clips I saw. Some of the wreckage fell onto a car dealership lot.

[SteveC]

<merged two threads. Posted simultaneously.>

[Stinger]

Here's a link to another forum that has some pictures in it and more info.
http://forums.somethingawful.com/sho...readid=2747693

[SIUav8er]

It doesnt suprise me. AJO is extremely busy. Throw pilots with no courtesy/common sense into the mix and things like this are bound to happen. Ive flown there quite a bit and every time Im there something happens that scares the crap outta me.
Some expamples: people flying right and left traffic simultaniously, some guy not making position reports, flying improper patern altitudes, entering the pattern straight in, People that cannot speak english on frequency..and my all time favorite, some guy sitting on the ground with a handheld directing traffic. Its insane!

[Mrs.Alchemist]

This is what I found...


Private planes collide, killing at least 4
Two private planes flying about a mile from an airport collided Sunday, killing at least four people, raining debris down on car dealerships below, authorities said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22760574/from/ET/

[RPJ]

AJO is a nice little airport. Been in and out numerous times and never saw anything out of the ordinary for an uncontrolled field. Now Lake Mathews practice area is a different story. I have seen many near mid-air collisions there. RIP

[MFT1Air]

My condolences to the families, friends, and loved ones of those deceased.

[Timbuff10]

Ouch, I think at least one of the planes, the 150, is from the main flight school there at Corona. From watching the local TV the other has the same markings as another of their planes. My heart goes out to those pilots and that school. I have been in there plenty of times and I think each time there has been a close call with some one in the pattern doing their own thing.

Don't know what all happened here, though I have my suspicions, but the FAA really needs to examine some of the flight rules for uncontrolled fields. I can't imagine the sun was any help at that time of day either. Anyway, don't know if I am more mad or sad right now here...

[athomeinthesky]

RIP, hope there is no delays on the way to heaven.

[Screaming_Emu]

Originally Posted by Stinger

Here's a link to another forum that has some pictures in it and more info.
http://forums.somethingawful.com/sho...readid=2747693

There are some extremely disrespectful people in that post.

[genkukov]

Hits really close to home, as Redlands Municipal is my home airport during my times home from school. There always seems to be "hundreds" of GA planes around the airports surrounding the Paradise VOR, especially in the afternoon. RIP and condolences to the families.

-Kukov

[athomeinthesky]

Originally Posted by Screaming_Emu

There are some extremely disrespectful people in that post.

Websites like that are in the same category as youtube comments, you shouldn't even bother to look at them.

[Sprint100]

Originally Posted by Screaming_Emu

There are some extremely disrespectful people in that post.

Take it with a grain of salt since that is NOT a website for pilots. I think since it hits closer to home for us so we naturally have higher standards aka more respect for the situation.

[MarkE]

Man that's so sad. i flew in there for the first time this last Monday with TheAlchemist. at the time winds were favoring and we had landed on 7. As we were getting fuel I remember seeing someone depart from the opposite end, rwy 25. I wasn't paying attention the the winds at that time but it was unlikely they had shifted. I just thought to myself that I hope no one is in the pattern right now. In the short time that i've been flying I've seen some poor airmanship at uncontrolled fields. Worst I've seen is at French Valley. Some pilots seem to be radio shy. I'm approaching the airport, I an see people in the pattern and no one is reporting at all. Felt like saying, I can see you guys. Someone say something!

Anyway again, very sad for the victims, families and those that witnessed it. Also for aviation in general as this will not sit well with the general public.

[Timbuff10]

I have seen a 182 nearly land on top of a helicopter there. He was maybe 20 feet above the helo as it was landing on the runway and the plane was above it trying to do the same. Another time, I was teaching short field landings there one time and went to use the full length and was promptly cut off by the guy that was behind me. Also been in the downwind and had a guy go by me in the other direction just a hundred feet apart. He then landed with a tailwind as I did a go around. With the radio, I am usually talking to myself and when I am not, I hear calls like "hey bob, I'm landing", or "yellow airplane 3 miles from the airport coming in".

Anyway, they updated the news. I don't think the 172 came from the local flight school there, at least it is not the one on their website. They are also saying that 5 are dead now, 4 in the planes and 1 in the dealership.

[TheAlchemist]

I've flown there a few times and a couple of times I had something happen that scared the crap out of me. Last Saturday I had to do a base and final for 25 at 120 kias 'cause another sky hawk showed up out of nowhere on a right base for 25 when I was on my left base. It's LP for 25 and RP for 7. As I'm taxing I see an experimental rolling in to 25 as a Bonanza approached on a 1 mile final

Maybe it's about time they have a tower out there.

RIP

[jima7011]

Originally Posted by Screaming_Emu

There are some extremely disrespectful people in that post.

Some of them are dim bulb idiots to boot--

[jordan747_400]

Mid-Air Plane Collision Kills 5 In Corona

Cessnas Collide Near Corona Municipal Airport

CORONA, Calif. (CBS) ― The cause of a midair collision involving two Cessna airplanes near Corona Municipal Airport that killed at least five people -- four on the planes and one on the ground -- was under investigation on Monday.

The crash was reported at 3:35 p.m. Sunday near Auto Center Drive and Wardlow Road, which parallels the Riverside (91) Freeway about a mile southwest of the airport.

One of the planes was a two-seater Cessna 150 and the other a four-seat Cessna 172, according to the FAA.

A pilot and passenger in each of the planes died in the crash, and a fifth victim was killed inside a Chevrolet car dealership when debris came through the roof, said Wayne Pollack of the National Transportation Safety Board.

The cause of the crash and identities of the dead were not immediately known.

Witnesses described a horrendous crash that rained bodies and debris. Lourdes Fajarda of Carona said she was driving home on a frontage road by the freeway when she saw the planes flying at each other.

"One (pilot) had to see the other one -- why didn't one dive up or dive down -- they just hit," she said. "One ... broke into pieces and the one heading north went straight down ... whoever was in the planes, you see them flying, you see them colliding and you know there are people in there."

She said she was so upset by what she saw that she went home before returning to talk to investigators.

The Corona airport is for general aviation and does not have a control tower, meaning the pilots were under visual flight rules.

The wreckage was not expected to be cleared away until this afternoon as both the FAA and NTSB investigated the crash.

Jeffrey Hardin and his wife were driving west on the 91 freeway when they saw the planes collide and called 911.

"We were about 100 yards east of Auto Center Drive when my wife said,
"Oh my God,'"Hardin told reporters.

"The smaller of the two (airplanes) looked like it was approaching from the west," he said. "The sun was real bright over the top of the hill, and maybe the other guy didn't see him. There wasn't any plane left. It was just pieces. The other plane was pretty much intact and looked like it was spiraling down behind the Nissan dealership."

The Cessna 150 was owned by Air Corona Inc., a company registered in Delaware, and the Cessna 172, was registered in Orange County, according to the newspaper.

Workers at the Corona Nissan dealership in the 2500 block of Wardlow Road heard the planes crash and saw a body fall onto a used Ford Mustang, according to the Press-Enterprise.

"When we saw the body hit the car, we thought it was the plane's engine," said Adam Sadek, the dealership's finance manager.

Another body landed about 10 feet away in the parking lot, he said.

"It was scary and something you didn't want to see at all," he said. "It was the first time in my life seeing something like that ... But you don't want to look at them again. Once is enough. It's a very sad thing."

Rick Harris of Riverside told the newspaper he was at the Bosch Automotive Group dealership on Wardlow Road when he heard the crash.

He said he drove to the neighboring Nissan dealership and saw a 10-foot piece of one of planes "mangled like a pretzel."

Two bodies were in the plane, he said. "It was a horrible sight," he said.

Matt Martinez, Hector Hernandez and Jeff Olha were driving east on Highway 91 near the Serfas Club Drive exit, just east of the Corona auto dealerships, when they heard the planes hit in midair. They told the Press-Enterprise that one plane appeared to disintegrate as the other nose-dived to the ground.

"I was shocked," said Hernandez, 30, of Garden Grove. "It was the craziest thing I've ever seen."

Doug Champion, an off-duty Orange County sheriff's deputy, told the Los Angeles Times he was pulling into a supermarket parking lot when he saw two planes about a mile away on the horizon.

"They looked like they would run into each other," he said, but thought
the two planes might look close but actually be at different altitudes.

Moments later, however, he saw the northbound plane strike the other
aircraft, he said. "There was no explosion or fire," he said. "They just hit, broke up and fell from the sky."

At Corona Nissan, salesman Pete Argueta told The Times the debris that
landed at his dealership included the cockpit of one plane, with someone dead inside.

"Seeing the aftermath was pretty gruesome," he said.

At the Chevrolet dealership across the street, an employee told The Times another employee was killed by a plane tire that crashed through the roof.

Eight other people have died in at least four other fatal plane crashes near the airport in the past 10 years, according to the Press-Enterprise.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

http://cbs2.com/local/Corona.Plane.Crash.2.634244.html


I do most of my flying out of the school at Corona and have flown that 150 myself. Flew it only once since the door opened in the pattern and I swore Id never fly it again. Im a young pilot and its a scary thing to have an accident that hits this close to home! My condolenses for everyone involved.

[xpanterica]

AJO always makes me pucker. You've got traffic coming in from all directions, both entering the pattern and transitioning to CNO. There's also Lake Matthews practice area nearby.. busy, busy airspace! And many times pilots aren't broadcasting on the CTAF. RIP.

[TheAlchemist]

I knew both guys in the 150 . I flew with one of them for maybe 15 hours. He was a super nice and humble guy. Great pilot, 19 years old who was finishing his second year in college and working at the same time as an exterminator. Hard working kid. Wanted to fly for CHP then go to the airlines.

I didn't even fly today because I'm so upset. I still don't know when the funeral is going to be but will find out soon.

Oddly enough the Cessna 172 was from a school out of Fullerton where both of the guys that were in the 150 from Corona got their PP/IFR. I flew that very 172 with the young pilot involved.

My friends RIP.

[MarkE]

Sorry for your loss Thiago. When I saw one of the planes was from your old school I thought you may know them.

[speedbird83]

RIP fellow pilots.

When I instructed in that area it always was a hair-raising experience. Like previously said, paradise VOR (PDZ), CNO, RAL, and all the other vfr traffic that usually funnel into AJO's premises brings no suprise to me that this unfortunate event has happened.

[Pilotin909]

Sad sad day ...I knew one of the pilots of the 150 (we flew together for almost 20 hours)...he was a great guy that loved to fly. Tragically he passed his instrument checkride earlier that same day and went on the subsquent flight to build more hours. I talked with him 2 hours before the crash

RIP BJ

[RPJ]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...la-home-center