2 dead, 19 hurt after small plane crashes into furniture warehouse in Southern California
Authorities in Southern California say two people are dead and 19 others were hurt after a small plane crashed into an furniture warehouse just minutes after taking off from a nearby airport Thursday afternoon.
The crash happened in the 2300 block of Raymer Avenue in Fullerton, California, not far from the Fullerton Municipal Airport, according to police.
Fullerton police said the two people who died are believed to have been inside the plane at the time of the crash. The people who were injured were working inside the building. Their injuries ranged from minor to very severe. Of the injured, 11 were taken to the hospital.
The single-engine, four-seat airplane took from the airport shortly after 2 p.m. local time and climbed to 900 feet before radioing the control tower to request an immediate return to the airport, according to Elliot Simpson, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.
The pilot was cleared to land. However, the plane took a 180-degree turn and crashed about 1,000 feet short of the runway, crashing into a furniture warehouse and catching fire, Simpson told reporters during a news conference.
Simpson said the plane involved was a kit-built Van's Aircraft RV-10 that was constructed in 2011. A kit-built is one in which the owner builds it and maintains it themselves and the Federal Aviation Administration inspects it to clear it to fly. Simpson said kit-built aircraft are common.
It's unclear why the pilot radioed to return to the airport, but Simpson said authorities are continuing their investigation.
The crash caused a large fire and led to significant damage to part of the warehouse, said Michael Meacham, with the Fullerton Fire Department.
ABC News' Sam Sweeney, Ayesha Ali and Jack Moore contributed to this report.
