CLICK HERE if you are having a problem viewing the photos or video on a mobile device
Four people died Wednesday, Jan. 22, when the single-engine airplane they were in crashed and burst into flames on takeoff at Corona Municipal Airport.
There were no survivors, Corona firefighter John DeYoe, a department spokesman, said at a news conference. The identities of the victims were not immediately available. Their bodies were badly burned and firefighters could not immediately determine their age or gender.
The plane was so damaged that the tail number was not visible, DeYoe said.
Later Wednesday, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor identified the plane that crashed as a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza. Further details could not be provided until all the next of kin have been notified, he said.
Two FAA safety officers were at the airport Wednesday afternoon, Gregor said.
A witness said the plane did not appear to get more than 3 feet off the ground as it attempted to take off to the east. Another said the pilot had trouble getting airborne, but he appeared to gun the engine for more airspeed, rather than aborting the takeoff.
The crash was reported at 12:10 p.m. on the east side of the airport, according to the Corona Police Department. The plane was found on fire in the brush in a ditch east of a berm on Army Corps of Engineers property.
DeYoe said the plane spilled about 80 gallons of fuel on impact, which ignited and burned the plane and also about 1/4 acre of brush before the flames were knocked down.
The airport, which is operated by the city of Corona, remained shut down late into the afternoon.
Witness Ken Coster said the plane was fueled before the takeoff attempt, which he watched.
“They went down the runway to the west and took off to the east … they lifted off the ground, but the tail dropped down, nose was up, so they weren’t gaining altitude,” Coster said. “The plane plopped back down on the runway.
“He steered the plane straight. Instead of stopping and aborting the takeoff, he went ahead and gunned the motor, gained some more airspeed, took off again, but the wingtips were going from one side to the other, and the nose pitched up,” Coster said of the final moments before the crash.
Coster said he did not see the impact because a hangar blocked his view, but he heard the explosion and saw black smoke.
Witness Dorothe Voll, a pilot, said she saw the plane strike a fence, turn over and quickly catch fire. It got no more than about 3 feet off the ground, she said.
“He didn’t pull back and he was too fast at the end of the runway,” Voll said, “and then he flipped and everybody was running and it started on fire. Then you had two explosions. … We brought over fire extinguishers but it was all engulfed.”
Coster said he saw the pilot and passengers before they boarded the plane. “We waved to the people and said ‘Hi’ when they went to the bathroom,” he said.
Walt Snyder, a pilot for 25 years from Laguna Niguel who rents a hangar at Corona, said there are several reasons why a single-engine plane might have difficulty gaining altitude: It is overloaded, there is engine trouble or it is taking off with a tailwind behind it. Taking off into the wind provides lift, Snyder said. Also, if the temperature is high, the air is lighter and that makes propellers and engines operate less efficiently. The high temperature in Corona on Wednesday was 64 degrees.
The airport does not have a control tower. Pilots are not required to file a flight plan or announce their presence at the airport, Snyder said. They are in radio communication with incoming and departing planes.
Employees at the Corona Airport Cafe said the victims were not familiar faces there. Some pilots drop in at the airport because the cost of the fuel there is less than elsewhere, the employees said.
