Pilot killed in midair plane collision in Lancaster

A pilot was killed after two small-engine planes collided in midair over Lancaster on Sunday afternoon, officials said.

Federal authorities said they were looking into the crash, which a Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesperson said occurred about 12:50 p.m.

Firefighters arrived at the scene of a downed plane near 47th Street East and Avenue F about 1:20 p.m., said L.A. County Fire Capt. Sheila Kelliher-Berkoh. A second downed aircraft was near 60th Street East and Avenue G, Kelliher-Berkoh said.

One of the pilots was pronounced dead at the scene, but the other pilot was uninjured, she said. Although details of the incident were remain scarce, it appears the two planes collided above Lancaster, Kelliher-Berkoh said.

It wasn’t known Monday afternoon what caused the crash, she said.

No passengers were on either plane.

The National Transportation Safety Board “is investigating the midair collision of a Yakovlev Yak-52 and Nanchang CJ-6A near Lancaster,” the agency said in a statement Sunday afternoon.

The Yak-52 is a single-engine craft designed in the 1970s in the Soviet Union. The CJ-6A was originally produced in the 1960s for the Chinese military. Both are known to be used in aerobatics.

City News Service contributed to this report.