A small plane carrying six people crashed into the ocean off the coast of San Diego Sunday shortly after taking off, killing everyone on board, authorities said.
The twin-engine Cessna 414 crashed around 12:30 p.m. Sunday, not long after taking off, about three miles west of Point Loma. While the FAA confirmed all six people on the plane were killed in the crash, authorities have not yet identified them.
The FAA said the plane was owned by vitamin and nutritional supplement maker Optimal Health Systems, however, the company said in a statement that it sold the plane to a group of private individuals in 2023.
The company’s founder, Doug Grant, noted in a statement that he knew “several” of the victims.
“We personally know several of the passengers onboard and our sincerest condolences are offered to those affected by the tragedy, all of whom are incredible members of our small community,” Grant said.
Coast Guard officials found the debris field Sunday about five miles off the coast of Point Loma, a San Diego neighborhood, where water is estimated to be about 200 feet deep.
The Coast Guard said on X that a Jayhawk helicopter, a fixed-wing aircraft, a cutter and two small boats were dispatched to search for survivors into Sunday evening.
Before the crash, the plane’s pilot told air traffic controllers he was struggling to maintain his heading and climb after the plane turned twice toward the shore before going back out to sea, according to audio from www.LiveATC.net and radar data by FlightAware.
Air traffic control urged the pilot to climb to 4,000 feet after he reported the plane was only about 1,000 feet in the air. The pilot was also directed to land at a nearby U.S. naval airport, but the pilot said he couldn’t see the airport.
Soon after, the pilot repeatedly signaled “Mayday,” before losing contact with air traffic control. Authorities have not yet said what caused the plane to crash.
A surfer who witnessed the plane tumbling out of the sky thought it was doing stunts, he told NBC Los Angeles.
"I saw him come down at an angle. He wasn't flying straight to the ground," said Tyson Wislofsky. "The next time he came out of the clouds, he went straight into the water. But after I saw this splash, about six seconds later, it was dead silent. I knew that they went in the water, nose first, at a high speed.”
The plane is owned by Optimal Health Systems, a nutritional supplement company based out of Pima, Arizona, about two and a half hours outside Phoenix, according to NBC.
The plane was flying back to Phoenix, one day after flying out from Arizona, according to FlightAware.
The National Transportation Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating.
The crash comes less than a month after a small Cessna plane crashed into a San Diego neighborhood, killing six people.
With reporting from the Associated Press.
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