Mid-Air Collision of Two Small Planes Leaves One Pilot Dead

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. (TheBlaze/AP) — Two small airplanes collided in midair over the Southern California mountains Monday, sending one crashing into a rocky ridge and killing its pilot while the second was able to maneuver a belly-flop landing on a nearby golf course, officials said.

Rescuers searched through the wreckage of the plane that crashed and sparked a fire in rocky terrain in Calabasas and found the body of one person believed to be the only one aboard, Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

Watch KTLA's report with the latest as of Tuesday morning:

The Calasabas Patch reported a couple hiking witnessed the crash as it occurred mid-air.

"My wife and I ... were hiking along Craig Road in the Malibu Creek State Park. It happened almost overhead of us," Tim Willms wrote in an email to the Patch.

He continued that they saw the plane go down and heard "a very loud 'explosion' type sound."

"Then we saw the smoke go up, very black," Willms wrote.

This is the wreckage of one plane. (Image: KTLA screenshot)

Firefighters responding to a report of a small wildfire at about 2 p.m. spotted the aircraft debris, put out the fire and began a search for survivors, county fire Inspector Quvondo Johnson said.

Three people on the plane that landed on a fairway while stunned golfers looked on had minor injuries.

Aaron Jesse, 47, said he had left work early for a round with friends at Westlake Golf Course and saw the low-flying plane hit a tree, spin around 180 degrees and land surprisingly gently.

"Finally being a bad golfer paid off," Jesse told the Los Angeles Times. "I hit it in the trees to the right. They landed 50 feet to the left of us in the center of the fairway. All we heard was a thud and then he made a gentle bounce and slid down the center of the fairway."

The plane that made an emergency landing on a golf course pictured in the arly morning hours Tuesday. (Image: KTLA screenshot)

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said a preliminary review of radar records showed the two flight-paths crossed just after 2 p.m.

The golf-course plane, a single-engine Cessna 172, was flying west at an altitude of 3,500 feet when the second plane, also a Cessna 172, approached from the east after leaving Santa Monica Airport for a test flight.

The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA are investigating.

FAA records show the plane on the golf course was manufactured in 1980 and is registered to Ameriflyers of Florida, LLC. A message left at a number listed for the company was not immediately returned.