SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Two people are dead after a small plane crashed and caught fire at Montgomery-Gibbs Airport in Kearny Mesa Monday evening, according to San Diego Fire-Rescue.
Crews responded around 5:20 p.m. after the plane, a Cessna Skyhawk, went down on the airfield. Both people aboard the aircraft were killed.
Brian Raines, Assistant Fire Chief with San Diego Fire-Rescue, said late Monday they were working to confirm the number of deaths, but didn’t believe anyone else was involved.
Security camera footage from a nearby business captured the moment the plane appeared to come in for a landing before nose-diving onto the runway.
A pilot flying in the area at the time, Sidney Van Ness, was approaching the airport with his son when they witnessed the aftermath.
“We were approaching this airport and flying in the downwind, and my son looked out the window and saw a fire. We started talking to the tower and they said the airfield was closed and we got diverted over to Gillespie a few miles away,” Van Ness said.
Audio from the Montgomery-Gibbs Airport tower captured the moment Van Ness reported the fire below from the air.
“Looks like there’s a fire on the airfield?” the pilot said.
“Yeah, there’s an accident. The airport’s closed,” the tower responded.
About 30 San Diego Fire Department personnel responded to the scene, according to the San Diego Fire Department.
Raines said there was an active fuel leak when the plane crashed and caught fire, but crews quickly knocked down the flames and prevented it from spreading.
Kristina Gonzalez, who lives nearby, said she and her family noticed something was wrong while driving home on the 805 Freeway.
“We thought it was a brush fire and, as we exited the freeway, we kind of followed the smoke and we saw the Fire-Rescue and all the emergency vehicles coming this way. This is literally a couple blocks from our house so we came to see what was happening. Unfortunately when we drove up, we saw what looked like a remains of some kind of a plane or some kind of aircraft on the field,” Gonzalez said.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation, which will be led by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Van Ness said the experience is one he will not soon forget.
“It’s impossible for you to see something like this and you know, not, not, not feel like it could be you,” Van Ness said.
The National Transportation Safety Board will take over the investigation.
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