The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating a plane crash that happened at around 11 a.m., Sunday at the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip during the National Hot Rods Association finals.
The passenger plane narrowly missed the race track and hundreds of spectators, while trying to land at the Brackett Field Airport.
It was a single engine Piper PA-32 aircraft flying from Apple Valley, carrying four passengers, who suffered moderate to severe injuries.
No one on the ground was harmed by the crash.
Sunday was the NHRA’s final competition, marking the end of the drag racing season. The plane crashed into the parking lot just to the left of the stands, just short of the race track, where it damaged vehicles in the vicinity of the crash site.
First responders and safety crews on-site responded to the crash, and officials delayed the races for two hours.
“I saw the plane coming in, there’s actually two planes, kind of following each other, and this one was a little bit low,” Ricky Thurman, who witnessed the crash, said. “All of a sudden one just never made it across and veered off and hit a truck and a trailer.”
The crash site was relatively contained with five vehicles and three trailers damaged. Many who attended the race events brought trailers and RVs to camp out during the weekend-long event.
“This picture is from a buddy of mine, whose trailer got hit,” Steve Rawding, a friend of one of the damaged trailer owners, said.
In the picture Rawding shared, the plane can be seen lodged into two trailers, with the front smashed in and fuel spilling out. Of the vehicles damaged, one of the trucks had its top half crushed from the plane’s descent
A hazmat team was on scene responding to potentially dangerous airplane fuel that spilled from the plane. NHRA officials covered the fuel in sand to avoid fires that could be ignited by the heavily modded hot rods nearby.
There was initial confusion as to whether it was a passenger plane or a stunt plane from the opening ceremony. There was no noise coming from the plane other than when it crashed.
“Just like a boom,” Thurman said. “Other than the initial crash, I don’t know if the engine was still running or not.”
Races resumed around 1 p.m. and all activities in the pit continued as normal, while first responders dealt with the plane. The section nearest to the crash was vacated and closed off to spectators.
–Kael Matias
Kael Matias is a staff writer for the Campus Times.
Chris Rogers is a junior photography major with a minor in art history. He is a staff photographer for the Campus Times and photography editor of La Verne Magazine. He is also a freelance photographer and movie stills photographer. He discovered his love for photography at a young age as he and his family traveled the world in their goal to reach all seven continents. They were fortunate to reach their seventh continent in the winter of 2019. He have a deep love for photography and loves being able to tell an entire story through one still image at a time. His work can be found at ChrisRogersPhotography.com.
Steve Rawding
