Plane crashes onto 405 Freeway outside John Wayne Airport; 2 aboard hospitalized
The 405 Freeway in Orange County was temporarily shut down in both directions Friday morning after a small plane crash-landed on the southbound lanes.
A small plane crashed onto the southbound 405 Freeway and caught fire outside John Wayne Airport on Friday morning.
Two people were aboard the twin-engine Cessna 310 when it crashed, according to Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. Both survived the crash and were rushed to local trauma centers, said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Larry Kurtz. Their names were not released.
The Cessna touched down in traffic lanes just short of the runway at 9:35 a.m., said airport spokeswoman Deanne Thompson.
The plane struck the center divider and traveled to the southbound lanes before erupting in flames, officials said.
A fire engine stationed at the airport sprayed foam over a fence to help extinguish the burning aircraft, authorities said.
The southbound side of the freeway was closed at MacArthur Boulevard for hours; it reopened just before 5 p.m., according to Caltrans. The northbound lanes were reopened by 10:15 a.m., though traffic remained snarled as drivers slowed to watch emergency crews work.
Images from the scene show the cockpit of the aircraft in flames, and a video posted on social media shows a large plume of black smoke coming from the plane as cars slow to a stop on the northbound side of the freeway.
No motorists on the busy freeway were injured. One vehicle was slightly damaged: a Mitsubishi pickup “clipped” by the aircraft, Kurtz said.
The driver of the pickup, John Meffert, a 17-year Avalon firefighter, helped pull the pilot, a man in his early 60s, and the man’s wife, who is in her mid-50s, from the plane and administered first aid before emergency responders arrived, Kurtz said.
Meffert was off-duty and driving to his home in Rancho Santa Margarita when the plane crashed.
“I was on the phone with my dad and I told him, ‘There’s a plane really low. I think this plane is going to hit me,’” Meffert said. “The wing came across the front of my hood, and after that, that’s when the plane crashed.”
He jumped out of his vehicle and initially thought the occupants of the Cessna must be dead. Then he saw a woman’s head appear out of the plane.
“I wasn’t thinking about my own safety,” Meffert said. “I saw her face and head pop up out of the passenger side. If she could be there, I thought I could be there.”
Kurtz said it was “very fortunate that he was on the freeway at the time.”
“He did extraordinary work helping get these individuals out of the aircraft,” Kurtz said.
“I think any of us would hopefully help out others,” Meffert said. “I just happened to be there.”
The plane — registered to Twin Props LLC in Santa Ana, according to FAA records — had just taken off from John Wayne Airport when the pilot declared an emergency, Gregor said. The pilot was trying to return to the airport when the plane crashed short of the runway, Gregor said.
All arriving flights at John Wayne Airport were halted temporarily but then resumed, airport officials said. Departures were not affected.
Later in the morning, about a dozen people stood in the parking lot of the Executive Park office complex overlooking the wreckage on the freeway.
Liane Lynch, who works in the complex, said she was planning to run an errand that would have required her to get on the 405 a few minutes before the crash, but a phone call delayed her.
“It’s just so scary,” she said. “I can’t imagine the shock of driving and seeing the plane go down in your rear-view mirror.”
Saul Pantaleon was on his lunch break from his job down the street and decided to drive to the Executive Park complex to get a better look. He said he often takes his children to that parking lot to watch planes land at the airport.
“I think about it sometimes when I see the planes flying over (the freeway),” he said. “What would it be like if something like this happened?”
Kurtz said the crash could have been much worse. “The fact that a plane can crash-land on the freeway and only strike one vehicle is extraordinary,” he said.
Los Angeles Times staff writers Joseph Serna and Veronica Rocha and KTLA contributed to this report.
Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
UPDATES:
5:14 p.m.: This article was updated with southbound 405 Freeway lanes reopening.
4:15 p.m.: This article was updated with John Meffert’s comments.
3:45 p.m.: This article was updated with further details.
12:10 p.m.: This article was updated with quotes from onlookers.
11:50 a.m.: This article was updated with information about the plane’s occupants and the northbound freeway lanes reopening.
11 a.m.: This article was updated with information about the plane’s registration and John Wayne Airport flights departure and arrival status.
This article was originally published at 10:45 a.m.
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