A small plane crashed on Interstate 15 south of Fallbrook on Saturday, slamming into a car stopped on the side of the road and killing a woman in the vehicle, authorities said.
Five others, including the pilot and his passenger, were injured in the crash on a stretch of the freeway that has been the scene of several plane landings.
Witnesses said the single-engine plane appeared to be having problems before it banked west and came down, California Highway Patrol Officer Chris Parent said. One man said he didn’t hear the plane’s engine as it flew overhead.
The Lancair IV landed on its belly and skidded about 250 feet before striking the rear of a black Nissan Altima sedan that was stopped on the shoulder in San Diego County near Fallbrook. The driver of the car had pulled over to synchronize the Bluetooth device on his phone, Parent said.
The impact crumpled the back of the car, fatally crushing Antoinette Isbelle, 38, of San Diego in the back seat and injuring three others in the vehicle – a 42-year-old male, a 45-year-old male, and a 36-year-old female. It’s unknown where they are from, or whether they are related.
“The plane went completely into the trunk and pushed the rear bumper almost into the rear passenger seat,” said John Buchanan, spokesman for the North County Fire Protection District.
The first fire crews on-scene noted a fuel leak, but Buchanan said they aren’t sure whether it originated from the plane or the car. Cleanup crews managed to stop the fuel from leaking into a storm drain nearby, which drains into a nearby waterway.
Pilot Dennis Hogge, 62, and his passenger, a 50-year-old woman who wasn’t immediately named, suffered major injuries, Parent said. The driver suffered moderate injuries, and his two passengers were expected to survive their injuries.
The plane was made from a kit in 2000 by Matthew Nokes, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.
Nokes, a major league catcher, once made a noteworthy landing on busy I-15 when the engine quit on its second flight on Feb. 18, 2000.
Nokes guided the high-performance $500,000 plane to a smooth landing and safely taxied off the road without injuries.
Nokes went on to fly the plane every day for five years without incident before selling it. He said it had been rebuilt several times since he sold it.
