Three killed as small plane crashes near shopping center

Monday, May 29, 2000 | 9:11 a.m.

The Piper Malibu aircraft plane had just departed Hawthorne Municipal Airport when it went down about noon Sunday at the edge of the shopping center's parking lot, striking an electrical transformer and bursting into flames.

Authorities said they had no reports of anyone on the ground being hurt.

The crash was followed by two explosions, the first about five minutes after impact when leaking airplane fuel touched sparks from the smashed transformer.

The second came five minutes later when a power surge struck a nearby underground transformer, Southern California Edison spokesman Steven Bradford said. The surge also ruptured an underground gas line.

Power was knocked out to 4,700 customers, with service returned to all but 200 by mid-afternoon, he said.

About 100 residents were forced to find overnight emergency shelter while authorities fixed the gas leaks. Utility operators feared the damaged electrical lines could have ignited lingering gas pockets and caused another explosion.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were on scene, but there was no immediate word on the cause of the crash.

The pilot did not report any problems before the plane went down in this city 14 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, police Lt. James McInerny said.

The four-seat airplane, was headed to Las Vegas, he said.

Its wreckage was reduced to a lump of charred metal on Birch Avenue near the intersection with El Segundo Boulevard, resting before an expanse of scorched roadside landscaping.

Jose Rodriguez, 26, said he was waiting at a stoplight near the crash when he heard one of the blasts.

"All I heard was an explosion, then I saw pieces of the plane flying everywhere, and smoke," he said.

A message left at Hawthorne Municipal Airport was not immediately returned Sunday.