News
Private planes collide in California, at least 4 dead

Jan. 21, 2008, Corona, CA – Two private planes flying about two kilometres
from a California airport collided Sunday, killing at least four
people and raining debris down on car dealerships below, authorities
said.

The small Cessnas collided at 3:35 p.m. local time near the small
Corona Municipal airport and a freeway in Riverside County, about 70
kilometres southeast of Los Angeles, FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer
said.

Three of the dead were from the planes and the fourth was in a
car hit by debris on the ground, Kenitzer said.

Kenitzer did not immediately know where either plane was headed
or whether there were any distress calls.

The Corona airport does not have a staffed control tower, he
said.

Debris fell on car dealerships and television showed the smashed
fuselage of one of the planes landed atop a parked car.

“The smaller aircraft…just disintegrated into pieces, maybe 50
pieces coming down,'' witness Jeff Hardin told KABC-TV.

“The other aircraft pretty much stayed intact and started
spiralling down.''

Witness Hector Hernandez said he saw bodies falling from the sky.

“One of them crashed into the top of a Ford Mustang and another
one fell not too far behind that one on the parking lot,'' Hernandez
told KCBS-TV.

Police were going through the dealerships to see i