Alright, folks, so get this — a private jet decided to crash into a San Diego neighborhood in the wee hours of Thursday morning. The whole thing happened in thick fog, causing intense flames to erupt and wreak havoc on several homes and cars. Nearly 100 people had to skedaddle out of there to safety, and sadly, the only ones who didn’t make it were the folks on the plane. The exact number of passengers was still up in the air, but the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said there were at least two souls on board. The FAA identified the aircraft as a Cessna 550, which can apparently fit around 8 to 10 people.
According to Assistant Chief Dan Eddy, the plane crashed into a military housing community in the Murphy Canyon area just before 4 a.m. on Thursday. Fortunately, no residents lost their lives in the disaster, but it was a scene straight out of a nightmare. Multiple homes and cars were ablaze when the firefighters arrived, and it took a Herculean effort to douse the flames. At least 10 homes were left in ruins, and a bunch of vehicles looked like they’d been through a war zone — about a dozen of them, based on the footage from the site. Despite early reports suggesting residents escaped unscathed, it turns out that eight people did sustain minor injuries. One of them had to be rushed to the hospital, while the others got patched up at a nearby evacuation center.
Honestly, I can’t even imagine what it must’ve been like in Murphy Canyon after the crash. The stench of jet fuel mixing with burnt wood lingered for hours, and the devastation was palpable blocks away from the site. Some homes bore massive charred craters, while nearby cars were flattened like pancakes. On one lawn, a plastic lawn chair and a child’s bike wheel lay scattered amidst the wreckage. It was like a scene from a disaster movie, with destruction everywhere you looked. San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl described it as “pretty horrific,” and I think that’s putting it mildly.
All in all, nearly 100 people had to find new digs after the crash, and the area remained off-limits for further investigations and cleanup. The flight originated from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, made a pit stop in Wichita, Kansas, and was en route to Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport in San Diego when tragedy struck. The pilot had radioed in that they were just a few miles away from landing, and there were no distress calls to indicate anything was amiss. The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA were on their way to suss out what went wrong, but the weather conditions at the time, with dense fog reducing visibility, could’ve played a role.
So, yeah, that’s the lowdown on the whole private jet fiasco in San Diego. It’s a real head-scratcher, for sure. Not really sure why this matters, but hey, that’s journalism for you. Stay tuned for more updates on this wild ride.
