The plane’s tail number indicates it is registered to the Flying Twenty, a nonprofit flight club for San Jose State University students, alumni and faculty.
A small plane carrying three people nosedived into traffic on one of San Jose's busiest streets Saturday afternoon, leaving everyone aboard and on the ground with only non-life-threatening injuries.
The crash occurred just before 3:10 p.m. at the intersection of Capitol Expressway and Excalibur Drive, blocking traffic, causing a minor fuel spill that crews quickly absorbed, and forced the Alum Rock Avenue off-ramp from Highway 680 to briefly shut down.
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WATCH HEREEmergency responders from the San Jose Fire Department confirmed that two adults and a child were inside the aircraft — identified by Federal Aviation Administration records as a 1968 Cessna 177A Cardinal -- when it went down, ending up nose-down and tail-up in the middle of the road.
The three occupants were transported to a hospital out of an abundance of caution. No vehicles or individuals on the ground were struck or injured.
Witnesses in the neighborhood expressed shock at finding a plane crash-landed just yards away from their homes.
"It's a close call, it's a close call," said Ricardo Barlaan of San Jose.
Andrew Vasquez, another witness, recalled hearing the impact. Describing the moment, he made a crashing sound and said, "Boom."
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"It's crazy, I'm flabbergasted," Vasquez said. "At first I thought it was some kind of stunt or they were making a movie or something."
Joe Lopez, who has lived in the neighborhood for 60 years, noted that while there have been past incidents involving aircraft flying out of nearby Reid-Hillview Airport, he had never seen a plane come down this close to his house.
"It's a good thing the navigator landed where he did," Lopez said.
The plane's tail number indicates it is registered to Flying Twenty Inc., a nonprofit flight club for San Jose State University students, alumni, and faculty.
According to the club's website, they operate out of Reid-Hillview Airport. A club member reached by phone declined to comment about the organization, the pilot or what happened.
It took about three hours before the wreckage was cleared from the intersection, carried away on a flatbed truck with a police escort — leaving a crumpled reminder of a crash that started with a mayday and ended with what emergency personnel called a miraculous survival story.
Saturday's incident highlights ongoing local safety concerns, marking the latest in a series of off-airport aircraft accidents tied to facilities in East San Jose. According to National Transportation Safety Board records and published news reports, several similar off-airport crashes have occurred over the decades:
Feb. 24, 2002: A Piper PA-24-250 lost engine power due to fuel exhaustion while approaching Reid-Hillview Airport, forcing the pilot to make an emergency street landing about two miles away where it collided with a car. The NTSB attributed the crash to inadequate flight planning and improper fuel-consumption calculations. No injuries were reported.
Nov. 19, 2017: CBS reported that a Cessna 172P suffered a partial engine power loss after taking off from Reid-Hillview Airport, crashing into a garage on Evelyn Avenue roughly 300 yards northwest of the property. While no one inside the residence was hurt, the pilot sustained minor injuries and two passengers suffered serious injuries.
June 29: A small experimental gyrocopter with two people on board crashed just outside Reid-Hillview Airport near Eastridge Mall. One occupant was hospitalized with moderate injuries, while the other was evaluated at the scene for minor injuries, according to a report from Newsbreak.
