Three people are lucky to be alive after the small plane they were in crash landed and caught fire at Gillespie Field in El Cajon Sunday. Two of the passengers were Huntington Beach Police officers.
The crash happened just before 10 a.m. in a nearby light industrial area on the west side of the airport.
The plane had just taken off before the pilot made an emergency call. According to the FAA, the pilot began experiencing problems with the engine and attempted to turn around. The plane did not make it back to the runway, instead crashing into a parking lot.
It came to rest on a small embankment along a metal fence. The fire damaged three Cox Communications trucks that were parked along the fence. No one on the ground was hurt.
Witnesses said all three men inside escaped before the plane caught on fire. A family friend told 10News, one of the passengers needed surgery. The other two had minor injuries.
The crash comes a little more than a week after a plane crashed into a Clairemont home, killing two people and sending two others to the hospital.
(Photo 10News)