What we know and still don’t know about a private plane’s crash into a San Diego neighborhood

Authorities were investigating why a private plane crashed early Thursday in San Diego, killing two people, damaging homes and igniting cars in the U.S. military’s largest housing neighborhood.

At least 100 residents were moved to a nearby elementary school serving as an evacuation center, the San Diego Police Department said.

The crash is under investigation by the federal National Transportation Safety Board.

The plane was headed from New Jersey to San Diego after a fueling stop in Kansas. It crashed about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from San Diego’s Montgomery-Gibbs Executive airport.

Authorities haven’t shared any details about what led to the crash but said they were looking into whether the plane clipped a power line.

It’s not yet known who was on board

Two people died in the crash, Assistant San Diego Fire Chief Dan Eddy said during a news conference. The plane could hold eight to 10 people but it’s unclear how many were on board.

The plane is owned by Daviation LLC, based in Alaska, according to Federal Aviation Administration records, which also show the owner also had at least one address in San Diego and had a pilot’s license. The Associated Press couldn’t immediately reach the owner, his family or business partners.

Hours after the crash, a person, who was injured climbing through a window while trying to flee, was taken to the hospital and is being treated, San Diego police officer Anthony Carrasco said. Another five people from a single family were being transported by ambulance for smoke inhalation. Two others were treated for minor injuries at the scene.

It also wasn’t immediately clear why the plane crashed, though Eddy said with the fog, “You could barely see in front of you.”

On the ground, a horrific scene

In the neighborhood, the smell of jet fuel lingered in the air hours after the crash while authorities worked to extinguish one stubborn car fire. Black smoke billowed.

Half a dozen fully charred cars sat on the street, and tree limbs, glass and pieces of white and blue metal were scattered around. While no discernible body of the plane could be seen, chunks of metal from it littered the street.

Wahl said jet fuel ran down the street, leaving “everything on fire all at once.”

Christopher Moore, who lives one street over from the crash site, said he and his wife were awakened by a loud bang, and he saw smoke out the window. The couple grabbed their three young boys and ran out of the house. They saw a car in flames on their way out of the neighborhood.

The flight started outside Manhattan

San Diego officials didn’t immediately release details about the plane but said it was a flight from the Midwest.

The flight tracking site FlightAware lists a Cessna Citation II jet scheduled to arrive at the Montgomery-Gibbs airport in San Diego at 3:47 a.m. from the small Colonel James Jabara Airport in Wichita, Kansas.

Wichita’s airport director said the plane had made a fueling stop there.

The flight originated Wednesday night in Teterboro, New Jersey, according to FlightAware. That airport is about 6 miles (10 kilometers) from Manhattan and is frequently used by private and corporate jets.

Planes have crashed in other San Diego neighborhoods

In October 2021, a twin-engine plane plowed into a San Diego suburb, killing the pilot and a UPS delivery driver on the ground and burning homes. It was preparing to land at the airport.

In December 2008, a U.S. Marine Corps fighter jet slammed into a house in San Diego’s University City neighborhood, causing an explosion that killed four people inside. The Marine Corps blamed the crash on mechanical failure and human error.