Three men walked away from a plane crash on Saturday night after their aircraft landed in a field near a Rio Linda home.
The small twin engine aircraft, a Beech 76 Duchess, crashed around 7:30 p.m. at the 6900 block of West 4th Street.
“I just don’t know how these guys survived. I don’t know how they survived,” said Adrienne Levy whose home was nearly struck during the incident. The aircraft clipped a telephone pole when it landed, Levy said.
“I think if it hadn’t hit that telephone pole it would have come right into our house and we have a full
house of people here — we’ve got like 10 kids here, so it’s pretty scary,” said Levy.
FAA spokesperson Allen Kenitzer explains that the aircraft experienced left engine failure followed shortly by right engine failure causing the pilot to force land in a field, 4 miles northwest of its destination.
“All of a sudden I heard a puff and the puff caught my attention,” said Joe Delso who was attending the party at Levy’s home. “I looked over to the east and I saw a light and I heard wind and all of a sudden I heard a thud,” said Delso.
The aircraft was on its way to McClellan Airfield from Visalia, California.
Kenneth Isenhower lives near the crash site and saw the plane coming in as the pilot struggled to find a safe place to land.
“I heard the plane coming overhead and it looked lower than normal and so I come out and look at it and the lights start flickering on the plane and then all of a sudden they go out,” said Isenhower.
The three men on board walked away from the crash with minor injuries.
“I know they were extremely thankful and two of them were in pretty big shock — maybe at shock they’re alive,” said Levy.
The aircraft sustained substantial damage, according to Kenitzer.
According to the FAA, the registered owner of the aircraft is Rajinder S. Kalar of Oregon.
