Deadly Plane Crash Lands In Los Angeles Neighborhood

A small twin prop plane crashes into Yorba Linda, a quiet Orange County neighborhood, killing five people. The disastrous aftermath looks like a scene out of an action movie.Show more

Pilot Antonio was flying home after visiting his granddaughter and daughter on Sunday 3 February when his Cessna plane began coming apart and debris slammed into a Yorba Linda home, which caught fire. 4 people inside the house died. Plane initially appeared intact when it fell through a cloud ceiling at an altitude of about 2,500 to 3,500 feet (620 to 920 meters). Parts of the plane’s fuselage were found in the back yard of a home on Canyon Drive, near the home on Crestknoll Drive that was destroyed.

The second engine dislodged and fell onto the street, creating a large hole in the asphalt, Debris from the plane damaged four to five homes. According to an aviation accident investigator with the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board.) "It was a boom. It sounded like something exploded. Paul Pritchard, who lives in the neighborhood, revealed the incident. There is currently an open hole within the tall eucalypt behind their Yorba Linda home, evidence of just how close the Cessna came to landing on them.

"My wife in the kitchen, she said, 'Paul, we have been struck by lightning. It hit the tree,'" Pritchard recalls. Pritchard ran to his driveway to put out a fire that he initially thought was his car. It was neither. It was the wing of the plane. "Later on, you start thinking," he says. "That's when you lose your sleep when you realize how close we came to a real disaster for the whole neighborhood." The plane, an eight-seat Cessna 414A, was built in 1981 and has a good reputation, said Cox an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, who said he has flown similar Cessna since the 1970s. An in-flight breakup is uncommon, and causes can range from metal fatigue to instrument failure and forces induced by the pilot, he said.

Pastini was an authorized commercial pilot and had a multi-engine landing rating, Record-Courier reported. Pastini was disciplined for dangerous flying years earlier. He is also trained restaurant owners on food and safety. Pastini also owned a tree farm in Oregon and has a twin brother. His girl, Julia Ackley, told Orange County Register that he had flown planes her entire life, and was and was very close the plane that crashed. She said he could fly single-engines, multi-engine, and helicopters and often flew medical missions for Angel Flights. The cause of the crash is under investigation.