A small jet crashed through an airport wall and into a car during an aborted takeoff at an Arizona airport, killing all five people on board and snarling traffic for hours, according to reports.
Smoke rose from the smashed auto and the plane’s broken fuselage, as they burned on a roadway outside Mesa’s Falcon Field Airport after the 4:40 pm, CNN reported.
“He went through that dip, he went past the road through the metal gated fence that they have, through, I believe, a few concrete walls,” eyewitness Joshua Golabi, a pilot, told the outlet.
“We were just about to get into our aircraft and go when we heard a pop and saw a plume of smoke,” he said. “It’s just jarring and it’s a reminder to all pilots to always fly and maneuver as safe as you can.”
Authorities have not identified the five victims inside the Honda HA-420 business jet.
It wasn’t clear if anyone was injured in the car.
“Our community suffered a tragic loss this afternoon,” Mesa Fire and Medical Department’s spokesperson Marrisa Ramirez-Ramos
“We had a plane that took off from Falcon Field Airport in Mesa and upon take off, it crashed into a single vehicle on Greenfield Road,” Ramirez-Ramos told Fox affiliate KSAZ-TV on Wednesday.
Mesa police said Greenfield Road, which runs next to the airport, remained closed Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration and Mesa police and fire officials are investigating the cause of the fatal crash.
