March 28, 2024
Deadly plane crash investigated near Banning Airport
CABAZON – (INT) – An extensive investigation is likely to follow the Tuesday evening crash of a small plane not far from the Banning Municipal Airport.

The pilot and the only occupant of the plane perished.

CalFire responded to Hargrave Avenue and Malki adjacent to the I-10 freeway and reported the plane was on fire. Flames spread to about a quarter-acre of brush but were quickly contained.

Trains were temporarily stopped on the nearby Union Pacific tracks.

Caltrans imposed a closure on the freeway.

Aviation mishaps are no stranger to the Banning Airport which is situated near the bottom of the San Gorgonio Pass. Last February, a small plane struck a hangar. There were no injuries.

In June 2017, an 87-year-old certified flight instructor had taken control of a small plane just before it crashed while practicing touch-and-go landings at the Banning Airport. The instructor died but the student survived.

In 2011, a pilot and two passengers escaped serious injury when their twin-engine plane crash landed in a field. The pilot told sheriff's deputies the plane suffered engine failure as he was attempting to return to the Banning Airport, about a mile away.

The National Transportation Safety Board was in charge of the investigations.
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