A woman died and a man was injured after a small plane crashed just short of reaching the Oceanside Municipal Airport, the Oceanside Police Department (OPD) confirmed.
The crash was reported at around 1:50 p.m. east of New Foussat Road when a single-engine Cessna 208B tried to land at the nearby airport, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
The plane landed in a nosedive position in a dirt field. The Oceanside Fire Department arrived at the scene and found two people trapped inside and in critical condition, said Justin Klopfenstein with Oceanside Fire. They were able to extricate both passengers and both were taken to local hospitals.
The occupants are described as a man and a woman and both were certified pilots, but it's unsure who was piloting the aircraft.
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It was later confirmed to NBC 7 that the woman died at the hospital.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
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The aircraft was reported to be from GoJump America, a skydiving company. GoJump America later confirmed to NBC 7 that they leased the aircraft for skydiving operations and that none of their pilots were flying at the time of the crash.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the pilot who has passed away. All of us in GoJump are very saddened by what has happened," they said in a statement.
Witnesses say the plane dropped had parachuters and was coming in for a landing.
"It was flying extremely low," witness Graham Jones-Kellett said. "That’s when we knew it was probably going to crash."
The plane crashed a couple of hundred yards from a nearby skatepark. Jones-Kellett was there with friends when he saw the plane smash into the ground.
Police say a nurse and her daughter who were in traffic nearby were instrumental in caring for the injured passengers while firefighters worked to rescue them from the wreck.
Flightradar24.com has a recording of the flight path. It indicates the plane flew as high as 11,000 feet and circled as it descended.
Back in February, a plane from GoJump Oceanside crashed near the Oceanside Municipal Airport injuring the pilot and passenger.
Jones-Kellet witnessed that one, too.
"Somebody has to be responsible for that, that is terrible," he said. "People can’t keep crashing over here."
The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA will conduct an investigation into the crash.
No other information was available.
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