Small plane catches fire after crashing on 405 freeway at MacArthur; 2 hospitalized
A small, twin-engine plane crash-landed on the I-405 freeway during the tail-end of rush-hour Friday morning, June 30 – banging into the center divider, colliding with a car, scattering debris that at least three other vehicles couldn’t avoid and ultimately erupting in flames that charred the roadway.
The 55-year-old female passenger staggered out of the six-seat plane. The 62-year-old male pilot was pulled from the cockpit by an off-duty firefighter. Both were taken to the hospital, where their conditions were unknown.
“This could have been extraordinarily bad,” said Capt. Larry Kurtz of the Orange County Fire Authority, noting that the pair, apparently a married couple, were conscious and had good vitals when first-responders arrived.
Somehow, no one driving on the notoriously busy I-405 was injured.
“Anytime you have a plane that crashes onto a freeway, the potential for great loss of life or great injury always exists,” he said. “It was extraordinary that all the patients we had were just patients of the aircraft.”
The Cessna 310R left John Wayne Airport, where it is based, to head to an unknown destination. But the plane ran into trouble soon after, forcing the pilot to turn back – and try to make it back to John Wayne, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
“We got a mayday! We got a mayday!” the male pilot shouted to FAA controllers, according to audio from the tower.
“Your landing gear appears to be up,” a male voice replied.
“I know,” the pilot said. “We’re still trying to get a little altitude. … I just lost my right engine.”
Quickly, at 9:35 a.m., the Cessna crashed onto the southbound 405. It skidded to a stop next to a concrete divider, just past the MacArthur Boulevard exit, said Paul Fox of the California Highway Patrol.
“They were just short of John Wayne,” said airport spokeswoman Deanne Thompson.
The plane caught an Uber driver’s Toyota truck. Blackstone Hamilton was chatting with his fare, about to drop off the passenger from Fountain Valley at the airport.
“I thought it was a big-rig smacking into us,” he said. “All of a sudden, we heard an intense smacking, crashing sound, slammed the vehicle – we were engulfed in flames,” Hamilton said. “I thought we were going to roll.”
His truck hit by debris, but Hamilton managed to keep the truck under control and continued along the freeway for a bit.
As the plane burned on the freeway, motorists, some who had their vehicles clipped by the aircraft or its debris, came to the rescue.
John Meffert, a fire captain for the city of Avalon on Catalina Island, told reporters at an afternoon press conference that he was on his way home to Rancho Santa Margarita to prepare for a family Palm Springs vacation. He saw a plane flying very low, and suddenly it was upon him.
“I had his wing come across the front of my hood,” he recalled. “After that is when the plane crashed. …
“I was able to get the wife back to the median and help the husband,” he said. “I dragged him out of the plane and off to the side. …
“A lot of people were ready to help,” he said. “I just happen to be in a position that maybe I was the first one there.”
Other motorists sprayed the flaming wreckage with extinguishers, although they helped but a little.
At John Wayne, arrivals were stopped for 45 minutes as officials waited for smoke to clear. Nine planes were diverted away from Orange County, most, if not all, landing at nearby airports, re-fueling and then circling back to John Wayne.
“It caused minimal disruption,” Thompson said.
The 1975 Cessna was registered on Wednesday, June 28, to a limited-liability corporation, Twin Props 87297, in Santa Ana, according to FAA records. The person believed to be the pilot and owner of the plane has been licensed to fly since 2007.
The CHP and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash. The landing was a close call for many others besides those in the plane.
Neilson Dong was driving in the far-right lane when he noticed the Cessna flying very low. It turned around – sharply. Dong had a bad feeling.
“So I slowed down,” he said.
The plane sank lower and crashed on the freeway.
“It slid right in front of me and caught on fire,” said Dong, who slammed on the brakes. “If I had driven any faster, it would have clipped me right in the side.”
As investigators worked the crash site, traffic was snarled for hours on the closed 405 south, which opened at 5 p.m
After the crash-landing, onlookers gathered on the Redhill Avenue overpass, snapping photos.
“I had to check it out,” said Andrew Granados, 28, who works at a medical-equipment manufacturer nearby. He had heard a loud bang from his office and the sound of skids.
“Hopefully everyone’s OK,” he added.
“Did anybody die?” he asked.
Owens said his son was to land at John Wayne but was rerouted to Burbank.
Staff writer Ian Wheeler contributed to this report.
Location of incident:
