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Tehachapi CA, I heard this on the local police scanner and here's the Bakersfield Californian report:
Two people were killed Saturday afternoon when an old-style military plane that had flown over a local parade earlier in the day crashed in the Tehachapi area, igniting a grass fire that authorities said was quickly contained.
One of the victims, the pilot, was the manager of the Tehachapi Municipal Airport, David Zweigle, age 42, said his sister-in-law, Kristi Zweigle.
The other victim, the passenger, also worked at the airport, said Mike Nixon, owner of a Tehachapi business that restores vintage aircraft.
Authorities did not release names of the people confirmed killed.
The plane was believed to be a Czechoslovakian-built 1968 L-29 Delfin. The aircraft came to a stop in the 20000 block of Old Town Road , said Lt. J.R. Rodriguez of the county sheriff's department.
"It looks like it exploded upon impact," he said.
Nixon said the plane hit ground in a field about 1,000 feet from the road, then bounced or skidded onto asphalt. The crash was first reported at around 1:30 p.m..
Firefighters were able to protect four or five nearby structures that had been threatened by the two- or three-acre grass fire, said Sean Collins, a public information officer with the county fire department.
Tehachapi professional photographer Nick Smirnoff said the L-29 was among three that flew in a city-organized holiday parade Saturday.
As in years past, he said, the planes flew over a parade route in celebration of the Fourth of July.
Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were investigating the crash.
Two people were killed Saturday afternoon when an old-style military plane that had flown over a local parade earlier in the day crashed in the Tehachapi area, igniting a grass fire that authorities said was quickly contained.
One of the victims, the pilot, was the manager of the Tehachapi Municipal Airport, David Zweigle, age 42, said his sister-in-law, Kristi Zweigle.
The other victim, the passenger, also worked at the airport, said Mike Nixon, owner of a Tehachapi business that restores vintage aircraft.
Authorities did not release names of the people confirmed killed.
The plane was believed to be a Czechoslovakian-built 1968 L-29 Delfin. The aircraft came to a stop in the 20000 block of Old Town Road , said Lt. J.R. Rodriguez of the county sheriff's department.
"It looks like it exploded upon impact," he said.
Nixon said the plane hit ground in a field about 1,000 feet from the road, then bounced or skidded onto asphalt. The crash was first reported at around 1:30 p.m..
Firefighters were able to protect four or five nearby structures that had been threatened by the two- or three-acre grass fire, said Sean Collins, a public information officer with the county fire department.
Tehachapi professional photographer Nick Smirnoff said the L-29 was among three that flew in a city-organized holiday parade Saturday.
As in years past, he said, the planes flew over a parade route in celebration of the Fourth of July.
Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were investigating the crash.