Witnesses in disbelief after seeing planes collide in Watsonville

By Ariana Jaso

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    WATSONVILLE, California (KSBW) — At least two people were killed Thursday after two small planes crashed following a mid-air collision that witnesses describe as horrific.

“It wasn’t like they barely rubbed up against each other. It was almost like a missile hitting another plane,” said Cam Primavera, who witnessed the collision. “I saw in a blink of an eye, another plane there, and they hit each other. And it was almost as if the faster plane had gone right through the smaller plane. The smaller plane immediately came apart. One of the wings came off and it just tumbled end over end.”

The next thing he saw was a black cloud of smoke and knew it wasn’t good.

One plane crashed into an airport hanger and the other crashed in a field near the runway, just yards away from a neighborhood.

One neighbor, Josh Barry, said it woke him up.

“I heard a first crash, it was like a big boom collision. I thought it was a car crash for sure,” Barry said. “First, it’s pretty scary. People died. It’s sad. It’s right next to my house, it could have hit any house.”

Fortunately, no one on the ground was hurt, but there were three people involved in the crash.

The city of Watsonville released the following statement on their Facebook page Thursday evening:

“We are absolutely saddened to hear about the tragic incident that took the lives of several people. The City of Watsonville sends its deepest condolences to the friends and family of those who passed.

“We are grieving tonight from this unexpected and sudden loss,” said City of Watsonville Mayor Ari Parker. “I want to express my deepest and most heartfelt condolences.”

The Federal Aviation Administration and the NTSB are investigating the crash. On Friday morning, investigators are expected to being looking into what caused this crash.

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