>>>
>>> TWO
>>> TWO PEOPLE CONFIRMED DEAD AFTER A PLANE WENT DOWN THIS MORNING NEAR AUBURN'S MUNICIPAL
AIRPORT.
YOU'RE WATCHING ABC10 NEWS AT
5:00.
I'M MIKE DUFFY.
THE PLANE WENT DOWN JUST BEFORE
10:00 THIS MORNING NEAR THE
BLACK OAK GOLF COURSE, NOT FAR
FROM THE RUNWAY AT A SMALL
AIRPORT.
THIS IS VIDEO OF THE ACTUAL
PLANE SHOT A COUPLE YEARS AGO
BY FORMER ABC10 MATT ARMENTA.
OUR VAN TIEU IS AT THE RANCHO
CORDOVA POLICE DEPARTMENT WHERE
ONE OF THE VICTIMS WAS A
VOLUNTEER.
OUR JOHN BARTELL HAS REACTION
FROM NEIGHBORS AND WE HAVE MORE
ABOUT THE PLANE.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?
>> Reporter: DETAILS HAVE BEEN
PRETTY SPARSE THROUGHOUT THE
MORNING AND AFTERNOON.
WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THE TWO MEN
WHO DIED AND THE ONE INJURED
WERE THE ONLY PASSENGERS ON THE
PLANE.
NOW AMAZINGLY NO STRUCTURES
WERE DAMAGED, NOR WERE THERE
ANY OTHER INJURIES.
WE SPOKE WITH SOME PEOPLE WHO
LIVE
LIVE JUST
LIVE JUST DOORS DOWN AFTER THE CRASH HAPPENED. A TERRIFYING FRIDAY MORNING,
THE CRASH'S PROXIMITY TO THIS
HOME AND SO MANY OTHERS WAS
FRIGHTENING TO NEIGHBORS WHO
HAVE LIVED IN THE AREA, SOME
FOR DECADES.
>> I WAS WORRIED ABOUT MY HOUSE
AND MY ANIMALS, YOU KNOW, AND
MY NEIGHBORS.
NATURALLY YOU DON'T WANT
ANYBODY TO GET HURT.
>> Reporter: THE PLACER COUNTY
SHERIFF'S OFFICE SAID A WITNESS
CALLED 911 JUST AFTER 10 A.M.
SAYING THEY SAW A PLANE GOING
DOWN.
IT LANDED IN THIS AREA JUST
FEET AWAY FROM A HOME.
THE PLANE APPEARED TO BE
WRAPPED UP IN SOME TREES BEHIND
THE HOUSE ON DRY CREEK ROAD.
>> IT IS EXTREMELY MANGLED.
IN FACT, THERE ARE SEVERAL
PIECES OF THE AIRCRAFT THAT ARE
JUST STREWN AROUND THE SCENE.
>> Reporter: ONE MAN WHO LIVES
NEXT-DOOR TO THE CRASH SITE
SAID HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTER
HEARD IT ALL HAPPEN.
>> SOUNDED LIKE A CAR ACCIDENT.
>> Reporter: ANOTHER MAN WHO
WORKS AT THE NEARBY BLACK OAK
GOLF COURSE SAYS IT'S NOT WHAT
HE SAW, BUT WHAT HE HEARD THAT
MADE HIM SUSPECT SOMETHING WAS
WRONG.
>> WANTED TO PULL OVER ABOUT
THE TIME OF THIS CRASH AND IT
WAS A LITTLE NOISIER UNANIMOUS
USUAL.
>> Reporter: TWO MEN, A FATHER
AND SON, BOTH NAMED ANTHONY
WRIGHT WERE THE TWO WHO DIED IN
THE CRASH.
>> ANTHONY WRIGHT JR. WAS A
RESERVE OFFICER AND A FULL-TIME
RECORDS OFFICER WITH THE RANCHO
CORDOVA POLICE DEPARTMENT.
>> Reporter: THE PLACER COUNTY
SHERIFF'S OFFICE SAYS THEY AND
THE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION
SAFETY BOARD WILL HANDLE MUCH
OF THE INVESTIGATION AND AS
THAT WORK CONTINUES, THE RANCHO
CORDOVA POLICE DEPARTMENT MADE
THEIR WAY TO THE SCENE TO
ESCORT ITS FALLEN FAMILY
MEMBERS AWAY.
AS
AS FOR
AS FOR THE THIRD VICTIM, THE PLACER COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE SAYS THAT THAT PERSON HAS BEEN
HOSPITALIZED WITH MODERATE TO
MAJOR INJURIES.
NOW THE SCENE IS A LITTLE MORE
THAN A HALF MILE UP THIS WAY.
WE WERE ABLE TO BE IN THIS SPOT
TO COME LIVE TO YOU.
THIS IS WHERE WE ARE ABLE TO
GET A SIGNAL, BUT THE ROAD HAS
SINCE BEEN OPENED.
IT WAS CLOSED EARLIER.
WE WERE JUST AT THE SCENE A
LITTLE BIT AGO AND
INVESTIGATORS ARE STILL THERE
WORKING IT TO FIND OUT WHAT'S
HAPPENING AND STILL TRYING TO
PITTING WHERE THE PLANE WAS
GOING TO OR COMING FROM.
THOSE DETAILS WILL SLOWLY BE
TRICKLING OUT.
>> THANKS FOR YOUR REPORTING.
80-YEAR-OLD ANTHONY WRITE
WRIGHT SR. AND ANTHONY WRIGHT
SR. ABC10'S VAN TIEU IS LIVE AT
RANCHO CORDOVA PD WITH MORE ON
THEIR REACTION TO THE LOSS.
GOOD EVENING.
>> Reporter: IT IS JUST
HEARTBREAK AT THE RANCHO
CORDOVA POLICE DEPARTMENT.
ITS FLAGS ARE FLOWN AT HALF
STAFF OUTSIDE OF THIS SMALL
DEPARTMENT OF ROUGHLY 130
POLICE OFFICERS.
THE SACRAMENTO COUNTY SHERIFF'S
CHAPLAIN WAS HERE EARLIER TODAY
OFFERING SUPPORT TO THE POLICE
DEPARTMENT AS THEY MOURN THE
LOSS OF ONE OF THEIR OWN, 55-
YEAR-OLD ANTHONY WRIGHT JR.
KNOWN AS TONY HERE WHO WORKED
FULL TIME IN THE RECORDS
DEPARTMENT AND WAS ALSO A
RESERVE OFFICER.
A MAN WITH A SILLY SENSE OF
HUMOR, OFFICIALS SAY HE WAS A
23 YEAR VETERAN OF THE
SHERIFF'S OFFICE BEFORE JOINING
THIS POLICE DEPARTMENT IN 2008.
HE STARTED IN THE TRAFFIC UNIT
HELPING NEIGHBORS.
OUTSIDE OF WORK WRIGHT WAS A
PILOT.
FELLOW OFFICERS ESCORTING HIS
BODY FROM THIS MORNING'S CRASH
SITE IN AUBURN WHERE HE AND HIS
80-YEAR-OLD FATHER DIED AND
ANOTHER INJURED.
ONE OF ABC10'S FORMER
PHOTOGRAPHERS KNEW WRIGHT
THROUGH THE AIRSHOW CIRCUIT AND
DID A STORY ABOUT WRIGHT'S
STINSON AIRCRAFT 10 YEARS AGO.
HE SAID THAT PLANE WAS WRIGHT'S
PRIDE AND JOY AND IT WAS
METICULOUSLY WELL MAINTAINED.
>> HE LOVED THAT PLANE.
HE WAS ALWAYS VERY EXCITED
ABOUT IT WHEN HE WOULD TALK TO
YOU ABOUT THE PLANE AND TELL
YOU THE HISTORY OF THE
AIRCRAFT.
HE WAS LIKE A LITTLE KID IN A
CANDY STORE TALKING ABOUT HIS
BABY THAT HE JUST LOVED SO
MUCH.
>>
>> Reporter: STILL THERE ARE STILL SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS AS TO WHY THIS PLANE
WENT DOWN.
THAT IS UP TO NTSB
INVESTIGATORS TO DETERMINE IN
THE COMING DAYS, WEEKS AND
POSSIBLY MONTHS.
WRIGHT LEAVES BEHIND A WIFE AND
FAMILY IN MEADOW VISTA AND, OF
COURSE, THE CITY OF RANCHO
CORDOVA WHERE HE HAS SERVED FOR
SO LONG.
>>
>> SO
>> SO MANY QUESTIONS. THANK YOU. >>> OUR BRANDON RITTIMAN LOOKED
INTO MORE OF THE AREA OF THE
CRASH AND THE PLANE ITSELF.
>> JUST WANT TO GIVE YOU
PERSPECTIVE ON EXACTLY WHERE
THIS CRASH TOOK PLACE, WE ZOOM
IN ON THE AREA OF THE AUBURN
AREA, THE CRASH SITE IS IN THE
NEIGHBORHOOD RIGHT UP HERE AND
THAT MAY LOOK LIKE A BIT OF A
DISTANCE, BUT IT'S ONLY A HALF
MILE FROM THIS END OF THE
RUNWAY.
IF YOU TALK TO AVIATION
EXPERTS, THEY'LL TELL YOU THE
TIME THEY'RE MOST CONCERNED
ABOUT AIRPLANES ARE WHEN
THEY'RE IN TAKEOFF AND LANDING.
THIS CERTAINLY WOULD SPEAK TO
THAT.
AS FOR THE PLANE ITSELF, IT'S
AN ANTIQUE, A SPECIAL AIRCRAFT.
THIS IS A STINSON V-77 RELIANT.
THESE WERE MANUFACTURED IN THE
1930s AND '40s, SO WE'RE
TALKING ABOUT 90-ISH-YEAR-OLD
PLANES.
THIS PARTICULAR ONE WAS BUILT
IN THE MID-'40s AND USED AS A
MILITARY TRAINING AIRCRAFT, BUT
THEY ALSO WENT OUT ON SPECIALTY
MISSIONS LIKE RECONNAISSANCE.
THEY ARE VERY RARE.
THERE ARE ONLY 88 REGISTERED TO
FLY IN THE UNITED STATES NOW,
FIVE OF THOSE IN CALIFORNIA AND
THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT ONE
HAS CRASHED IN MORE THAN 40
YEARS.
THE LAST TIME ONE OF THESE WENT
DOWN WAS IN 1977 ACCORDING TO
THE NTSB.
AS FOR THE AUBURN AIRPORT, THEY
DON'T HAVE A WHOLE LOT OF
EXPERIENCE WITH ACCIDENTS, BUT
THEY DID HAVE MINOR INJURIES ON
ONE CRASH LAST YEAR DURING A
TRAINING MISSION AND THE LAST
TIME WE KNOW OF A FATAL
ACCIDENT OCCURRING WAS ALL THE
WAY BACK IN 2013.
>>
>> THANKS, BRANDON. THIS IS A STORY WE'RE CLOSELY MONITORING.
STAY UP TO DATE