Plane Crash Kills Student, Instructor At Santa Monica Airport

SANTA MONICA, CA — Authorities were investigating a plane crash that killed a flight instructor and a student during an introductory flight lesson at Santa Monica Airport on Thursday afternoon.

The airplane was inbound to the airport just before 4:30 p.m., when it made an abrupt upward maneuver before crashing, the Santa Monica Fire Department wrote in a statement.

Arriving fire crews and paramedics found the aircraft down on the tarmac, engulfed in flames, the department said. The fire was quelled within minutes by arriving firefighters.

Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene. Their names were not immediately released pending notification of next of kin.

National Transportation Safety Board officials later confirmed the people aboard the single-engine, two-seat Piper Sport plane were a student and a flight instructor. The cause of the crash was under investigation by multiple agencies.

Firefighters were assisted by the Santa Monica Police Department, Santa Monica Airport Operations and NTSB. Nearby neighborhoods were not impacted by the plane crash, authorities said. Santa Monica Airport closed for the investigation and reopened on Friday morning.

According to KCAL 9, the instructor worked at the Santa Monica-based flight school Santa Monica Flyers.

City News Service contributed to this report.