Fatal Mid-Air Plane Collision Near Los Angeles Leaves One Pilot Dead

Deadly Crash Near Lancaster

A pilot was killed and anoth­er sus­tained minor injuries after two vin­tage planes col­lid­ed in mid-air just out­side Los Ange­les, near the city of Lan­cast­er. The fatal crash occurred around 1:20 p.m. on Sunday.

Planes Were Performing Aerobatics

The two planes, a Yakovlev Yak 52 and a Nan­chang CJ-6A, were fly­ing in the Lan­cast­er area and “pos­si­bly doing an aer­o­bat­ic maneu­ver” when the col­li­sion hap­pened, accord­ing to the Los Ange­les Coun­ty Sher­if­f’s Department.

One Plane Crashed, Another Made Emergency Landing

One of the planes made a crash land­ing near the inter­sec­tion of E. Avenue G and 60 Street East, while the oth­er plane land­ed about 15 min­utes away near W. Avenue F and 55th Street West.

Police and NTSB Investigation

Author­i­ties have launched a full inves­ti­ga­tion into the crash, with the Fed­er­al Avi­a­tion Admin­is­tra­tion (FAA) and the Nation­al Trans­porta­tion Safe­ty Board (NTSB) trav­el­ing to the scene. The cause of the col­li­sion remains unknown.

Vintage Aircraft with WWII Markings

Both planes were described as vin­tage air­craft paint­ed to resem­ble World War II mil­i­tary planes. One had a tail num­ber of N313YK, while the oth­er had a par­tial tail num­ber of N5287.

Tragic Loss of Pilot Life

The death of one of the pilots in this mid-air col­li­sion serves as a trag­ic reminder of the inher­ent dan­gers involved in oper­at­ing vin­tage air­craft, even in a con­trolled avi­a­tion envi­ron­ment. The inves­ti­ga­tion will aim to deter­mine the exact cause of this fatal incident.