No one was injured when a plane crashed and struck multiple parked vehicles on a street outside Whiteman Airport in Pacoima on Monday, according to officials and Sky5 aerial footage.
The small fixed-wing aircraft crashed in the 10100 block of North San Fernando Road, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The location was near Whiteman Airport.
Reports of a crash were made to the Los Angeles Police Department around 1:30 p.m., Detective Meghan Aguilar said.
Firefighters arrived about 10 minutes later and determined no one was injured.
The pilot was “very, very fortunate” to be able to maneuver to a fairly wide road, and that no pedestrians were injured, said Margaret Stewart, a spokeswoman for the Fire Department.
“This is about as best-case scenario as this type of situation could be,” she said.
The pilot’s skill level was not immediately known, and he was being interviewed by Federal Aviation Administration officials, Aguilar said. He was the plane’s only occupant at the time of the crash.
Sky5 reporter Tim Lynn said he heard the plane flying and believed the plane’s engine failed, forcing the pilot to try to glide into a landing.
The plane’s passenger-side wing was ripped off, and at least two parked vehicles nearby had shattered windshields, Sky5 aerials showed.
Four vehicles were damaged in all, Aguilar said.
There appeared to be some fuel on the roadway, footage showed, but it was not a significant amount, Stewart said.
Investigators planned to be at the scene until around 6 p.m., and motorists were asked to avoid the area, Aguilar said.
The plane involved was a fixed-wind, single-engine Mooney aircraft from Oregon, FAA records showed.
The crash occurred more than a year after another small plane crashed onto a street in the nearby Van Nuys area. The pilot died in that incident.