Sean McMillan: Plane Crashes in West L.A., Pilot Dead (PHOTOS)
Updated at the bottom with the pilot's ID. Headline has been modified. First posted at 6:28 p.m. Friday.
ABC7 / yfrog
A small plane crashed in West Los Angeles today.
NBC Los Angeles reported the plane might have been en route to Santa Monica Airport when the crash happened shortly after 6 p.m.
The L.A. Fire Department says the accident happened at ...
... 2111 S. Glendon Ave., which is in a residential area.
The plane reportedly hit a building. The LAFD says no structures were involved, however.
No word on injuries or fatalities.
We happened to be nearby and witnessed police, paramedics and traffic officers rush to the scene as news choppers buzzed overhead.
@AmirZendehnam A view from what looks to us like Pico Boulevard. [Added later]: Nope, this is a view from Westwood Boulevard
[Added at 6:58 p.m.]: One person was found dead inside the plane, fire officials state.
The LAFD says the crash happened at 5:58 p.m. was reported to the department at 6:14 p.m.
The department's Brian Humphry notes that the crash site at Glendon and Mississippi avenues is 1.8 miles northeast of Santa Monica Airport.
[Update at 7:46 p.m.]: Ian Gregor, communications manager for the FAA's Western-Pacific region, tells the Weekly that this is the preliminary story:
The single-engine Cessna 210 crashed around 6:10 p.m. It had recently taken off from Santa Monica Airport and was heading back after the pilot declared an emergency of an unspecified nature, he said.
The aircraft is registered to a resident of Santa Monica who has not been identified. It's not yet clear, however, if that was the person behind the controls.
No one on the ground was reported injured.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, with a preliminary report expected with a week or two, Gregor says.
@seamusdever
@thezupon
[Added at 8:05 p.m.]: KCAL9 says the plane crashed into the front yard of a home near that intersection.
A witness told the station the plane exploded into flames that then lit up a nearby palm tree. Another person who heard the crash said described it as shockingly loud; he said he initially thought the explosion might have been part of a terrorist attack.
[Update at 12:40 p.m. Monday]: Various news outlets over the weekend said that neighbors have identified the dead pilot as 70-year-old Sean M. McMillan, a Century City attorney from Westchester known to fly seriously ill people to treatment facilities for free.
Luckily no one else was on-board the Cessna when it went down. Some praised McMillan, saying that he purposefully avoided hitting any houses or cars when the the plane crashed.
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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