Two people were killed Wednesday morning after a small kit plane crashed near a golf course in Petaluma, California, authorities said.
A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration told NTD in an email on Thursday that the Van’s RV-7A aircraft went down in an empty field shortly after taking off from the Petaluma Municipal Airport, located about 40 miles north of San Francisco.
First responders found the homebuilt two-seat single-engine aircraft fully engulfed in flames when they arrived at the field. After Petaluma Fire Department personnel extinguished the blaze, two people were found inside the plane. They were both pronounced dead at the scene.
Police urged residents and others in the community to avoid the immediate area following the crash while emergency crews and investigators worked the scene. Authorities also offered their condolences to those affected by the incident.
“Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of those involved in this tragic incident,” the department said.
“I heard the engine first, which made me turn around,” he said. “It went sideways and went straight down.”
Sabin said the plane was about 100 feet above the ground when it began to fall. “It looked horrible, what I saw,” he said, noting that he heard a boom before seeing a large fireball.
A second witness, Goran Jelenic, told Eyewitness News that the plane appeared to be trying to return to the airport.
“Looked like he was trying to turn back [to] the runway and turn really hard,” Jelenic said.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation, led by the National Transportation Safety Board.
