A pilot crashed his small, two-seat plane at Ramona Airport in San Diego County Saturday but survived, authorities confirmed.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department (SDSO) said a 56-year-old pilot walked with only minor cuts after crashing his small aircraft near the CAL FIRE helicopter landing pad at the airport around 10 a.m.
The pilot was treated at the scene by CAL FIRE firefighters. No one else was aboard the aircraft and no one on the ground was injured in the crash, deputies said.
The SDSO said Ramona Airport officials have reported the incident to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Safety Transportation Board (NTSB). NBC 7 reached out to the FAA for further details on the plane crash, but have no yet heard back from the organization.
Ramona Airport is located at 2926 Montecito Rd., about two miles west of the central business district of Ramona, which is about 40 minutes from downtown San Diego. The airport is owned by the County of San Diego.
The site was first developed in 1943, when the U.S. Navy built a small airstrip. In 1956, the facility was conveyed to San Diego County and the airport has grown over the past six decades into an aviation center for inland and mountain communities.
According to the County of San Diego website, the Ramona Airport is the third busiest facility in the County’s system with just over 155,000 operations each year.
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CAL FIRE operates a base at the airport, which responds to about 450 calls per year, per the County website.
