A pilot miraculously survived a plane crash in which his Cessna crashed head-on into the roof of an aircraft hangar at the Long Beach airport on Monday.
The incident occurred around 2:20 p.m. in the 2900 block of East Spring Street when dispatch received a call about a plane crash at the airport.
Rescuers located the Cessna 172 nose down on top of the building along with the pilot, who was the sole occupant of the craft.
A representative for the Federal Aviation Administration said the pilot was practicing takeoffs and landings when he went down unexpectedly.
A pilot miraculously survived a plane crash where his Cessna crashed through the roof of an aircraft hangar at the Long Beach airport on Monday.
The incident occurred around 2:20 p.m. in the 2900 block of East Spring Street when dispatch received a call about a plane crash at the airport.
Video of the extent of the damage, including the aircraft’s nose inside the roof, while one wing appears to be severely broken.
In one clip, firefighters could be seen climbing a ladder to the top of the hangar to investigate and assist in the recovery of the pilot.
According to a representative for the Long Beach Fire Department, the pilot had to be removed from the Cessna after the crash.
The unidentified man was taken to the hospital for his minor injuries.
Kate Kuykendall, spokeswoman for the Long Beach airport, said KTLA the accident did not affect any commercial flights entering or leaving the airport.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.
Officials said a preliminary update will be given in the coming days.
Firefighters told ABC 7 that approximately 45 gallons of fuel leaked after the plane blew a hole in the hangar.
The cause of the accident remains unknown.
Photos of the extent of the damage, including the plane’s nose inside the roof, while one wing appears to be severely broken.
According to a representative for the Long Beach Fire Department, the pilot had to be removed from the Cessna after the crash.
The accident comes just days after a Cessna C550 commercial jet crashed in nearby Riverside County, killing six people.
The plane was only 500 feet from a runway, and the pilot had warned air traffic control that he could not see the runway in heavy fog.
The plane was attempting to land around 4:15 am on Saturday, July 8, at French Valley Airport between Los Angeles and San Diego.
After aborting an initial landing attempt, the plane crashed when it missed the runway by about 500 feet and caught fire.
All aboard the plane, which was arriving from Las Vegas, were killed in the crash, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.
The pilot was Riese Lenders, 25, and on board were two married couples and Lindsey Gleiche, 31, of Huntington Beach.
The couples were Manuel Vargas-Regalado, 32, and his wife Abigail Tellez-Vargas, 33, as well as Ibrahem Razick, 46, and his wife Alma, 51.
The accident comes just days after a Cessna C550 commercial jet crashed in nearby Riverside County, killing six people. Pictured: Debris from a Cessna crash on July 8
The sooty remains of the Cessna Citation jet that crashed near French Valley Airport between San Diego and Los Angeles
Shockingly, the crash wasn’t even the first fatal incident involving a Cessna jet at the Spring Valley airport that week.
On July 3, a single-engine Cessna 172 crashed in the parking lot shortly after takeoff, killing one of the four people on board.
A fire started by the accident ignited an acre of vegetation before crews put it out.
The National Transportation Safety Board said at a news conference on Saturday that a “marine layer” of fog, common on the southern California coast, had descended on the runway.
