Pilots die as 2 planes collide over Nevada desert

RENO, Nev. (AP) – Authorities say two planes collided over the Nevada desert and both pilots were killed.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says the single-engine Cessna 170 and an experimental aircraft crashed in midair about 8 a.m. PDT Sunday.

The Reno Gazette-Journal reports (http://on.rgj.com/1D5V5Qz ) that the pilots were the planes’ only occupants and no one on the ground was hurt.

Gregor says that the circumstances of the collision were not immediately known.

The Lyon County Sheriff’s office says the crash occurred near Yerington in western Nevada, about 60 miles southeast of Reno, during an informal weekend fly-in at the dry lake bed.

The office says participants on the ground heard a sound a distance away and saw falling debris and smoke, sending them running or driving to the crash site.