In an unfortunate incident, a Cessna C550 business jet crashed in flames while making a second landing attempt in foggy conditions, taking the lives of six people on board.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has validated the tragic occurrence, which took place on Saturday, July 8, around 4:15 am in Murrieta, 80 miles from Los Angeles. Following the crash, Riverside County Fire Department spent over an hour battling the inferno, which also spread to torch about an acre of vegetation surrounding French Valley Airport.
According to Elliott Simpson, a representative from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the plane, designed to carry up to 13 passengers, fell approximately 500 feet short of the runway. In a press briefing, he detailed that the majority of the aircraft, with the exception of the tail section, was swallowed by the blaze. The investigation teams are currently sifting through a debris field stretching around 200 feet.
A public statement from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the unfortunate demise of all six individuals on board. Later, the Riverside County Coroner’s Office identified the deceased, among them two pilots, as Riese Lenders, 25, Lindsey Gleiche, 31, Manuel Vargas-Regalado, 32, Abigail Tellez-Vargas, 33, Ibrahem Razick, 46, and Alma Razick, 51.
The NTSB said the plane, which had taken off from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, was heading for Murrieta, a brief 45-minute flight. The crash happened during the plane’s second approach to the airport. Simpson further explained that the pilot had been authorized for an instrument landing due to reduced visibility.
Even though the weather conditions were at the lowest permissible levels, the landing was undertaken. To extract key insights, the communications between the pilot and air traffic control will be closely examined. A preliminary report from the NTSB is expected within the next two weeks.
This incident is the second fatal accident at the Murrieta airport, serving nearly 112,000 residents, within a week. Earlier, on July 4, a man lost his life and three others were injured when a Cessna 172 single-engine plane crashed in a parking lot post take-off from French Valley. Both incidents are currently under comprehensive investigation.