OCEANSIDE (CNS) - The pilot and sole occupant of a light twin-engine plane was killed Tuesday when the aircraft crashed in a field behind a North County primary school and burst into flames.
The airplane went down near State Route 76 and North El Camino Real in Oceanside shortly before 11 a.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The Beech 95-B55 had taken off from nearby Oceanside Municipal Airport a few minutes earlier, a dispatcher said.
Firefighters arrived to find the crumpled plane and some surrounding vegetation ablaze. The crews had the flames under control within 20 minutes.
Witnesses said the plane was "in obvious distress" just before it went down near San Luis Rey Elementary School, which had no classes in session at the time, Oceanside police Lt. Leonard Mata said.
The pilot may have been trying to circle back to the airport to make an emergency landing when the aircraft plunged to the ground about 50 yards south of SR-76, according to Mata.
