Planes Crash Near LA: Midair Collision Leaves 1 Pilot Dead, 3 With Minor Injuries On Westlake Golf Course [PHOTO]
Golfers at Westlake Golf Course outside of Los Angeles witnessed something unusual on the fairway.
A four-seat Cessna 172 Skyhawk made a belly-flop landing in the middle of the third fairway moments after it collided with another small airplane midair, AP reports.
"Finally being a bad golfer paid off," Golfer Aaron Jesse, 47, told the Los Angeles Times. "I hit it in the trees to the right. They landed 50 feet to the left of us in the center of the fairway. All we heard was a thud, and then he made a gentle bounce and slid down the center of the fairway, veering to the left."
County fire officials and witnesses said the plane’s landing gear was not visible. The three passengers onboard walked away with minor injuries, AP reports.
The second airplane, also a Cessna 172, made a crash landing into a rocky ridge near Calabasas, Calif., killing its pilot, Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said.
The plane, which is registered to flight school AmeriFlyers, had taken off from Santa Monica Airport on a test flight. It was heading west at 3,500 feet when it crossed paths with the other plane that was heading east at 3,100 feet, NBC Los Angeles reports.
The planes collided shortly after 2 p.m. A brush fire in the Santa Monica Mountains was reported followed by the emergency landing at the golf course five minutes later, the L.A. Times reports.
At first, the two crashes were reported separately but were later confirmed that they in fact were connected. A final confirmation will be made by the National Transportation Safety Board, after an investigation Tuesday morning.
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