Firefighters responded to a small airplane crash at the Whiteman Airport in Pacoima, a wreck caused by faulty landing gear within the aircraft, airport officials said.
Firefighters responded to a solo crash of a Cessna airplane just after 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Based on initial reports of the incident, the pilot and sole passenger in the aircraft safely landed on the runway but the landing gear did not deploy properly, the Whiteman Airport Coalition said in a statement.
The plane continued beyond the runway area, passed through a perimeter fence and came to rest in a parking lot on airport property, according to the coalition.
It’s unclear if the plane crashed into any vehicles or anything else in the parking lot.
“The solo passenger/pilot has been extricated and is receiving medical assessment,” according to a Los Angeles Fire Department incident alert.
Five gallons of fuel leaked from the aircraft, but the leak was contained and there is no active fire.
Officials said the pilot was injured but did not disclose the extent of their injuries.
“Thankfully, no one else was injured,” the airport coalition’s statement said. “Most importantly, the incident remained entirely on airport grounds and posed no danger to surrounding neighborhoods or nearby residents.”
The Whiteman Airport has been a cause for concern among community activists and residents in surrounding neighborhoods who have called on the facility to shut down.
The last incident occurred in April when community members helped liftup a single-engine plane and pull the pilot from the wreckage after it crashed upside down and into the parking lot of an auto parts store less than two miles from its departure location, the Whiteman Airport.
A series of accidents prompted the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to look into closing the airport.
In 2022 an single-engine Cessna emergency landed on the Metrolink tracks near San Fernando and Osborne streets; police had to quickly extract the pilot as a Metrolink train barreled toward the wreckage.
That April, a pilot died after a Cessna crashed alongside the 210 Freeway in Sylmar after taking off from Whiteman Airport.
Previously, in November 2020, a Cessna crashed in a residential area near the airport’s runway, killing a Civil Air Patrol pilot.
Earlier this year, federal aviation authoritieswarned the county that the land purchased with federal funds carried an obligation that included operating the property as an airport unless the FAA formally released it.
Staff writers Ruben Vives and Clara Harter contributed to this report.
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