8 Killed in Plane Crashes in Northern California

Eight people, two of them children, were killed in crashes of light planes at two rural Northern California airports Monday.

Two adults and two children died when the engine on their small plane stalled just after takeoff from a small airstrip in the Shelter Cove coastal resort area, about 170 miles north of San Francisco.

Witnesses told authorities the plane had just taken off over the ocean when it “circled back, then all of a sudden . . . just dropped straight down,” said Humboldt County Sheriff’s Sgt. Wally Williams.

The aircraft was so badly damaged on impact that neither its make nor the identity of the four people on board could be immediately determined, Williams said.

At the Truckee Tahoe Airport, three men and a woman were killed when their single-engine plane crashed shortly after takeoff and burst into flames.

The names of the victims were withheld pending notification of family members. Authorities said the men were military personnel.

Airport spokesman Bill Chilcott said the Cessna 172 had been fueled before it crashed Monday morning about 700 feet past the end of the runway.

The plane ascended only about 60 feet and seemed to veer out of control before it hit the ground, he said.

The crash sparked a small brush fire that was quickly extinguished.

“The airport emergency teams were out there immediately, but there was no chance to save the people on board the plane,” Chilcott said.