One person was killed and another was seriously injured when a single-engine plane crashed into a hillside near state Route 76 this morning in Oceanside, police said.
Dispatchers received a call shortly before 7:15 a.m. from a woman reporting she saw the wreckage of a plane on a hillside near SR-76 and Canyon Drive, Oceanside police spokesman Tom Bussey said. Crews arrived to find the pilot dead and the lone passenger trapped in the wreckage.
The passenger was extricated and transported by air ambulance to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla for treatment of serious injuries, Bussey said.
The victim told rescue crews that the plane went down around five hours before he was found, Bussey said.
The crash happened around two miles west of the Oceanside Municipal Airport.
Footage from the scene showed the airplane resting on the side of a hill about 10 to 20 feet from the top of the ridge.
Authorities shut down the eastbound lanes of SR-76 between Canyon Drive and Benet Road and advised motorists to avoid the area.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were investigating the cause of the crash. The Federal Aviation Administration later reported that the aircraft had taken off at nearby Oceanside Municipal Airport about 9 p.m. Monday and crashed shortly thereafter.
The state route was fully reopened shortly before 1 p.m., the California Highway Patrol reported.
