PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA — Two people died Wednesday after a small plane crashed and burst into flames shortly after taking off from Petaluma Municipal Airport in Northern California's wine country.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the
aircraft was a Van's RV-7A, an amateur-built single-engine plane, carrying two
people.
The crash occurred around 10:45 a.m. when the plane went
down in a field next to the Rooster Run Golf Course, near the airport. When
emergency crews arrived, they found the plane engulfed in flames.
Firefighters brought the blaze under control approximately
three minutes after arriving, but found the two people dead inside the
aircraft.
Authorities have not yet released the identities of the
victims. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined. The FAA and the
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) launched an investigation to
determine what happened before the small plane crashed.
The accident also caused the temporary closure of a section
of East Washington Street while emergency crews and investigators worked at the
scene. No injuries were reported on the ground.