A plane crash in the Sierra Nevada foothills killed two Sonora men Wednesday, Feb. 5.
Robert Clough, 73, and Robert Parriott, 71, died when the single-engine Cessna 140A crashed about one-fourth of a mile from the Columbia Airport, in Tuolumne County.
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The plane crashed behind a home, by a pond, on the 21000 block of Springfield Road, in the vicinity of Horseshoe Bend Road, near the small, rural enclave of Columbia.
Clough piloted the plane, which crashed under unknown circumstances other than it flipped over. Authorities are also unclear if the plane crashed returning to the airport or taking off.
Authorities reported no injuries on the ground and the crash posed no threat to nearby communities.
The Columbia Airport is within walking distance of the Gold-rush town of Columbia. It is owned by the county and serves small aircrafts.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate the crash, along with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Plane crash fatalities in the US are on the rise, according to the NTSB. In 2018, the number of people killed in plane crashes increased by 13 percent. This means that Civil aviation deaths climbed by 46 between 2017 and 2018 — from 347 to 393 — in 209 fatal accidents.
There are more than 220,000 “active” aircraft in the US. These figures include diverse general aviation equipment, such as amateur-built aircraft, rotorcraft, balloons, and turbojets. according to an FAA press release issued in 2018 on general aviation safety.
Inflight loss of control causes the largest number of general aircraft fatal accidents, according to the FAA.