Fatal Flight Departed From Santa Monica

Update at 11 a.m.

A second body was found in the wreckage of the single-engine Cessna aircraft that crashed in the Santa Monica Mountains near Las Virgenes Road and Mulholland Highway, investigators announced Tuesday morning.

"The coroner has confirmed that there are two bodies among the mangled wreckage," said Steve Whitmore, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman.

Whitmore said the two bodies were so badly burned from the crash and ensuing fire that not even their genders could be immediately determined.

The plane appeared to have nose-dived directly into a hillside, creating a crater, Whitmore said.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were continuing their investigation at the crash site Tuesday.

Original Post: One person was killed Monday in the Santa Monica Mountains following a mid-air crash involving two Cessna planes.

Preliminary radar records showed one of the planes, a Cessna 172, had just departed from Santa Monica for an engine test flight when it collided with another plane, a Cessna 172, over the Santa Monica Mountains, according to Allen Kenitzer of the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Cessna 172 crashed in the mountains off Las Virgenes Road and Mulholland Highway in Calabasas.

Tim and Rhonda Willms told Patch in an email they witnessed the mid-air collision while hiking in Calabasas Monday afternoon.

"We already knew it was a plane crash as we saw a plane go down after hearing a very loud 'explosion' type sound," Tim Willms wrote. "Then we saw the smoke go up, very black."

L.A. County firefighters began receiving reports of a brush fire in Calabasas just after 2:04 p.m., according to Inspector Tony Imbrenda.

Soon after, the department began receiving reports that a plane landed just after 2:15 p.m. at a Westlake Village golf course. Three people were injured, but not seriously.

The plane was marked with a decal from American Flyers, which is a flight training operation out of Santa Monica, according to KABC.

A woman who answered the phone at American Flyers in Santa Monica said she was not able to comment on whether the plane that landed in Westlake belonged to the company.

"We cannot confirm or deny that," she said.

The brush fire in Calabasas was contained within a few hours to about an acre, by helicopters, Imbrenda said. Fire crews were brought in by helicopter to attack the blaze, he said.

Just after 6:30 p.m., investigators found human remains at the crash site, and the engine was still hot, according to Steve Whitmore of the sheriff's department. The victim's name was not released as of Monday night.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and firefighters will remain at the scene overnight Monday to try to preserve it for investigators, Whitmore said.

While battling the blaze in heavy brush, hand crews cut a path to the flames. Investigators will continue to use the new fire road to access the accident site, Whitmore said.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators are expected to arrive early Tuesday morning.