FULLERTON, Calif. – A small plane crashed into the roof of a sprawling Southern California furniture manufacturing building Thursday, killing two people and injuring 18 others, police said.
The identities of those who died and whether they were on the plane or on the ground are not yet known, Fullerton Police Department spokeswoman Christy Wells said.
The plane crashed less than two minutes after takeoff from Fullerton Municipal Airport in Orange County, just nine miles from Disneyland, according to aviation tracking website FlightAware.
Security camera footage from Lucci Forged, a wheel manufacturer located across the street, showed the plane tilting sideways into the building, causing a violent explosion and a plume of black smoke.
Wells said firefighters and police arrived at the scene to extinguish the fire and evacuate surrounding businesses.
Chris Villalobos, an airport operations staff member, received a call that a plane had crashed nearby and came to the warehouse to see what had happened.
He said the plane’s owner was a regular at the airport and frequently took off from the airport.
“He has a hangar and everything here,” Villalobos said.
Villalobos said the pilot told air traffic control after takeoff that he intended to turn around and make an emergency landing, but it was unclear what the problem was with the plane.
According to a sign on the door, the building was home to furniture upholstery manufacturer Michael Nicholas Designs, which apparently had sewing machines and textile inventory inside.
Police said 10 people were taken to the hospital and eight were treated and released at the scene. Two people were confirmed dead, Wells said.
According to the US Federal Aviation Administration, the aircraft was an RV-10, a four-seater single-engine van.
Fullerton’s airport has one runway and one helipad. Local rail Metrolink is nearby and adjacent to residential areas and commercial warehouse buildings.
Another four-seater plane crashed into a tree half a mile from the airport during an emergency landing shortly after takeoff last November, the Orange County Register reported. The two people on board suffered moderate injuries.
Fullerton is a city of approximately 140,000 people located 40 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
