Cessna 414 Went Down On Approach To John Wayne Airport

A Cessna 414 went down Sunday in a parking lot while on approach to John Wayne Airport (KSNA) in southern California, resulting in the fatal injury of the pilot and four passengers on board.

The Orange County Register reports that the plane impacted terrain in a the parking lot of the Staples Supercenter, striking a car whose owner was inside one of the stores shopping. The accident scene is about a mile northwest of the northern end of one of the airport's runways.

The accident occurred at 12:28 p.m. local time. Authorities said that the pilot had declared an emergency prior to the accident.

The plane was en route to Atlantic Aviation, a fixed-base operator at KSNA, according to airport spokeswoman Deanne Thompson. A spokesperson for the company said that the FBO had received a request for transient storage of the aircraft, but had had no previous contact with the owner.

The aircraft was registered to Category III Aviation Corp. of San Francisco. It had departed from Concorde, CA northwest of San Francisco, according to the FAA.

No one on the ground was injured in the accident, officials said.

(Image from file)

FMI: Original report