TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) - A small plane crashed into a building near a Southern California municipal airport Thursday, killing one of the two people aboard.
The single-engine Cessna 177 went down around noon about a mile east of the Los Angeles-area Torrance airport, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.
Wreckage could be seen on the roof of a commercial building and in a parking lot below. Firefighters sprayed the area with foam, and no fire was seen.
Assistant Chief Robert Millea of the Torrance Fire Department told the Daily Breeze the plane appeared to have gone through the roof and into a covered patio seating area.
Millea said one of the plane’s occupants was killed and the other was critically injured.
No one on the ground was reported to be hurt.
Omid Taheri, 32, witnessed the crash from across the street at a car dealership.
“I just saw the plane looking like it was trying to get altitude,” he told the newspaper. “Then it turned sideways and to the right and then took a nosedive straight down.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
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