A Life Aloft
Well-Known Member
A pilot died when a small plane crashed into a strawberry field and caught fire in north Oxnard Friday morning after clipping a building nearby.
The crash was reported around 8 a.m. in a field on the north side of Highway 101 near Del Norte Boulevard, according to Ventura County Fire Department reports. The site is west of the Camarillo Airport.
No other victims were found during a grid search on the ground and from the air using a helicopter, Ventura County fire officials said. Two urban search-and-rescue dogs were called in to search the strawberry field for other potential victims, but the dogs had been released before noon.
Firefighters at the scene described finding a wide debris field and said the plane was fully involved with fire when they arrived.
Ventura County firefighter Andy VanSciver confirmed shortly before 9 a.m. that one person was aboard and died in the crash. VanSciver, an agency spokesman, could not release more details on the death.
He also said the plane clipped a building on the south side of Highway 101 before going down in the field on the north side of the freeway, east of Del Norte. Crews found debris from the plane on the roof of a building on the south of the freeway.
Capt. Brian McGrath, another agency spokesman, said the Oxnard Fire Department was the lead agency and county fire had been called in to assist.
The Federal Aviation Administration had also been contacted to investigate.
Information from FlightAware indicated the single-engine, four-seat fixed wing craft had taken off from Camarillo Airport around 7:59 a.m. and had been headed to Phoenix Deer Valley Airport. The plane was listed as a Mooney M-20 Turbo registered in Arizona.
Sean Herder, operations supervisor for Ventura County's Department of Airports, confirmed the FlightAware departure information.
The pilot had arrived at the Camarillo Airport at 11:38 a.m. Thursday, Herder said. He had flown in from Big Bear.
Herder was not aware of any distress call before Friday's crash.
The plane hit a commercial building in the 3500 block of Camino Avenue near Trabajo Drive, said Oxnard Fire Battalion Chief Steve McNaughten. The site is just east of Del Norte on the south side of the freeway.
The city of Oxnard yellow-tagged the building, he said. The extent of damage wasn't immediately known.
The building was occupied during the incident, but no injuries were reported, McNaughten said.
The crash was on private property, and small plumes of smoke from the plane could still be seen from about a quarter mile away.
The incident impacted traffic on Highway 101 through the corridor Friday morning, with the northbound side still backed up as of 11:45 a.m. The right lane of the northbound 101 was closed, officials said, leaving two northbound lanes open.
Visibility was good, I have no idea how the hell he managed to hit a building.
The crash was reported around 8 a.m. in a field on the north side of Highway 101 near Del Norte Boulevard, according to Ventura County Fire Department reports. The site is west of the Camarillo Airport.
No other victims were found during a grid search on the ground and from the air using a helicopter, Ventura County fire officials said. Two urban search-and-rescue dogs were called in to search the strawberry field for other potential victims, but the dogs had been released before noon.
Firefighters at the scene described finding a wide debris field and said the plane was fully involved with fire when they arrived.
Ventura County firefighter Andy VanSciver confirmed shortly before 9 a.m. that one person was aboard and died in the crash. VanSciver, an agency spokesman, could not release more details on the death.
He also said the plane clipped a building on the south side of Highway 101 before going down in the field on the north side of the freeway, east of Del Norte. Crews found debris from the plane on the roof of a building on the south of the freeway.
Capt. Brian McGrath, another agency spokesman, said the Oxnard Fire Department was the lead agency and county fire had been called in to assist.
The Federal Aviation Administration had also been contacted to investigate.
Information from FlightAware indicated the single-engine, four-seat fixed wing craft had taken off from Camarillo Airport around 7:59 a.m. and had been headed to Phoenix Deer Valley Airport. The plane was listed as a Mooney M-20 Turbo registered in Arizona.
Sean Herder, operations supervisor for Ventura County's Department of Airports, confirmed the FlightAware departure information.
The pilot had arrived at the Camarillo Airport at 11:38 a.m. Thursday, Herder said. He had flown in from Big Bear.
Herder was not aware of any distress call before Friday's crash.
The plane hit a commercial building in the 3500 block of Camino Avenue near Trabajo Drive, said Oxnard Fire Battalion Chief Steve McNaughten. The site is just east of Del Norte on the south side of the freeway.
The city of Oxnard yellow-tagged the building, he said. The extent of damage wasn't immediately known.
The building was occupied during the incident, but no injuries were reported, McNaughten said.
The crash was on private property, and small plumes of smoke from the plane could still be seen from about a quarter mile away.
The incident impacted traffic on Highway 101 through the corridor Friday morning, with the northbound side still backed up as of 11:45 a.m. The right lane of the northbound 101 was closed, officials said, leaving two northbound lanes open.
Visibility was good, I have no idea how the hell he managed to hit a building.
The only Mooney Ive ever gotten a flight in was a Mooney Porsche and just around the far north PHX area for an hour. Nice bird overall. 
