Two Fatally Injured, One Age Nine

A Cessna 172 reportedly went down in the front yard of a home near Chandler Airport (KFCH) in Fresno, CA, resulting in the fatal injury of the two people on board the airplane. One was reportedly a nine-year-old boy.

The accident occurred at about 1830 PST Thursday, according FAA spokesman Ian Gregor. He told the Associated Press that the accident site was about 800 feet west of Runway 12 at the airport in Fresno.

Authorities said that the airplane impacted a tree before going down in the residential area. There was a post-impact fire. No one on the ground was injured in the accident. Fresno Fire Department spokesman Koby Johns said the two on board were an adult and the nine-year-old, but did not release their names pending notification of relatives.

The Fresno Bee reports that the child was the nephew of the pilot.

A witness told the Bee that he was smoking a cigarette outside his house when he heard a "boom, and then all of a sudden flames."

Johns said that the plane had flown out of Fresno, but it was not clear if it had departed from KFCH. The pair had flown south to Tehachapi before returning to Fresno. He said the pilot tried to regain control of the airplane after it struck the tree as it traversed the length of the runway before it nosed over and went down just beyond the runway threshold.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov