Five people died in the midair collision of a Sabreliner twin-engine business jet and a Cessna 172 near San Diego on Sunday. Both airplanes were trying to land at Brown Field Municipal Airport, about a mile north of the Mexican border, according to the FAA. Both aircraft came down in open fields near the airport, about a quarter-mile apart, and sparked a series of fires which took about two hours to control. It’s not clear if either airplane broke up in the air, or if they were destroyed when hitting the ground. The Sabreliner, with four on board, was registered to military contractor BAE Systems, which confirmed that its employees were aboard the jet. The 172 pilot was alone.
“It appears it was a very violent crash, as you can tell by both aircraft being in multiple pieces,” Cal Fire Division Chief Nick Schuler told the San Diego Union-Tribune. Aside from the fires, nothing was damaged on the ground. The NTSB is investigating the crash.
