A small homemade plane practicing aerobatics crashed into a rural neighborhood east of Ramona killing two people on board, FAA and CalFire officials said.
The “Bakeng Deuce” is an aircraft with a small, open cockpit that's sold as a kit, said FAA spokesperson Ian Gregor. He also said it was performing aerobatics including barrel rolls and sharp turns when its wing fell off, causing the plane to slam into the ground Saturday afternoon. Both people on board died.
"A good part of one wing was missing and it was headed straight down like a corkscrew," said witness Arlan Roest. "Then I heard the engine sputtering, then a thump, or a thud... some kind of unnatural sounding sound."
The plane is registered to a Ramona resident and took off from the Ramona Airport. Parts of the plane ended up near homes, about a quarter mile from the crash site, in Barona Mesa at Mesa Estates Road and Manzanita Ranch Road, CalFire officials said.
Roest said he had to prepare himself for what he was about to see and also said that it will take him some time to get over what happened.
"On something like this, it takes a while to process what you've seen... it's not something you see everyday," he said.
No homes were damaged and no one on the ground was hurt. The FAA is now investigating.
