| FreeStuffsNG: 7:54pm On May 22 |
Business jet crash in San Diego neighborhood leaves multiple people dead, officials say
By Chelsea Bailey, Aaron Cooper,
Pete Muntean
Hours after an aircraft slammed into a San Diego neighborhood Thursday, the smell of jet fuel remained thick in the air as investigators scoured the area for clues to uncover what caused the plane to crash, killing multiple people.
The business jet careened into homes in a San Diego military housing community just before 4 a.m. Thursday, authorities said. The debris field is at least a quarter mile long, and jet fuel rained down the residential street, igniting several cars and damaging others as far as several blocks away from the main crash site.
At least two people have died and eight others were injured, according to the San Diego Police Department.
It is unclear how many people were onboard the jet, but all the fatalities appear to be from the plane, San Diego Fire Assistant Chief Dan Eddy said during a press conference on Thursday.
First responders quickly rushed to quell the flames as residents helped evacuate their neighbors from the homes, authorities said.
Hours later, the sun rose over charred ruins of a home badly damaged from the plane, which gouged a hole in the side of the house and collapsed the roof onto a car below.
“I can’t quite put words to describe what this scene looked like but with the jet fuel running down the streets and everything on fire all at once, it was pretty horrific to see,” Scott Wahl, San Diego Police Chief, said during the press conference.
The San Diego police department later confirmed one person has been hospitalized and two others were treated and released following the incident.
San Diego Fire department told CNN that a Cessna 550 airplane, often called a Citation, “crashed near Montgomery Executive Airport around 3:45 am” Thursday.
The private jet is commonly used for business travel and can carry eight to ten people.
Authorities work the scene where a small plane crashed into a San Diego neighborhood, setting several homes on fire and forcing evacuations along several blocks early Thursday.
Authorities work the scene where a small plane crashed into a San Diego neighborhood, setting several homes on fire and forcing evacuations along several blocks early Thursday. Gregory Bull/AP
Several cars ignited after a small plane crashed into a San Diego neighborhood early Thursday.
Several cars ignited after a small plane crashed into a San Diego neighborhood early Thursday. Gregory Bull/AP
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation istration are investigating the crash.
CNN aviation safety analyst David Soucie said one of his biggest concerns is that the Cessna Citation airplanes are generally considered “one of the most reliable airplanes.”
Although he’s awaiting the findings from the FAA investigation into the crash, including whether fog could have played a role. Soucie said the presence of jet fuel on the ground would seem to indicate that the plane did not run out of gas.
He cautioned it could also take some time to determine how many people were onboard the aircraft.
“It is really difficult, considering the level of damage, I don’t want to get too morose about it, to actually identify how many people are on the aircraft,” he said. “So it may take a little while considering the damage to the airplane.”
Eddy told the Associated Press it was very foggy at the time the private plane crashed. “You could barely see in front of you,” he said.
Visibility was down to half a mile with low cloud ceilings around the time of the crash, weather observation data shows.
At a news conference Thursday, Eddy said there was “more than one” fatality aboard the plane, but the FAA is working to confirm how many people were ed travelers.
“I can tell you that there are multiple homes, upwards of 10 homes, that were affected,” Eddy said at the conference. “Also when it hit the street, as the jet fuel went down, it took out every single car.”
Video captured by a neighborhood resident who asked to remain anonymous shows flames engulfing vehicles lining both sides of the street shortly after the crash, as their car alarms blared.
The resident told CNN they were awakened by a loud boom and their house began shaking. The man ran outside to see the whole street ablaze and grabbed a hose to begin spraying down his yard, he said, then he decided to evacuate the area.
He told CNN he also helped police knock on his neighbors doors so they could evacuate.
Captain Robert Heely, Commanding Officer of Naval Base San Diego, said the neighborhood is “one of the largest military housing units in the world.”
“Certainly we have a lot of military families that are impacted,” Heely said, before adding his condolences to the families of those on board the plane.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria vowed the city will continue to those affected.
“They are part of a military community that makes up our city – proud partners of our community – and we will them for as long as it takes to make sure that we get back to good here,” he said.
The San Diego Humane Society has taken in at least 12 pets affected by Thursday’s crash, including multiple dogs whose fur was doused in jet fuel.
A post on X shows the humane society’s medical team donned hazmat suits to decontaminate and wash off the animals.
According to the flight tracking site FlightAware, the Citation took off from Teterboro Airport, just outside of New York City, late Wednesday night.
The plane stopped in Wichita, Kansas for about an hour before flying on to San Diego.
The pilot of the plane asked air traffic controllers about the weather at Montgomery Gibbs Field when they were descending at 9,000 feet, but the automated weather system at the airport was not working, air traffic control recordings show.
“The Montgomery ASOS is out of service,” the Southern California Approach controller told the pilot in audio recorded by LiveATC.net. The Automated Surface Observing System provides weather updates every minute, 24/7.
“I’ve got the Miramar automated weather,” the controller radioed the pilot and provided him the conditions from the Marine Corps Airfield – about three miles away. The controller reported poor conditions visibility of a half mile and a cloud ceiling of 200 feet.
The pilot’s responses were not recorded by the website. The controller checked another airport which was “a little bit better but not much” before the plane proceeded to try and land at Montgomery Gibbs.
The pilot announced on the radio the plane was three miles away from a planned landing on Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport runway 28, according to a recording from the website LiveATC.net.
There was no sign of any problem, and no emergency was declared.
The airport has a control tower, but it is not staffed in the overnight hours so pilots announce their intentions to any other pilots listening on the “common traffic advisory frequency.”
The Citation, according to FAA records, is owned by a company in Alaska and was built in 1985.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/22/us/san-diego-plane-crash
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| FreeStuffsNG: 7:54pm On May 22 |
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May God console the bereaved.
Americans elected a President who promised to slim down cost of their government and he started by firing air traffic controllers. Smh.
The wise ones are leaving their 'shithole' for Europe and elsewhere for the next 4 years and till US gets back her groove
38 Likes 4 Shares |
| Hezzyluv: 7:59pm On May 22 |
So sad 
God console their families.
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| gbaskiboy: 8:46pm On May 22 |
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What is happening to America recently too many plane crashed.
14 Likes 1 Share |
| FreeStuffsNG: 8:47pm On May 22 |
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Truly sad
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| Chienex24(m): 9:02pm On May 22 |
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America's air mishaps is becoming equivalent to Nigeria's road accidents. RIP to the dead
20 Likes |
| Greydebz(f): 9:03pm On May 22 |
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May their soul rest in peace. And May God comfort their families.
2 Likes |
| papyjaypaul: 9:03pm On May 22 |
This headline makes it look likes it's not a plane crash 
2 Likes |
| TechCapon(m): 9:03pm On May 22 |
trump istration has seen more plane crash than all others combined. even people on ground are not safe 
5 Likes |
| TempleHouse: 9:03pm On May 22 |
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Donald Trump four months have witnessed plane crash in the US than Obama Eight years.
19 Likes 1 Share |
| papyjaypaul: 9:04pm On May 22 |
FreeStuffsNG:
So sad. May God console the bereaved.
Americans elected a President who promised to slim down cost of their government and he started by firing air traffic controllers. Smh.
The wise ones are leaving their 'shithole' for Europe and elsewhere for the next 4 years and till US gets back her groove
Errmmmmm as much as Trump can have his own, it's not about him, YET.
Na statistics we go chop? Na statistics we go shop.
3 Likes 
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| Kushites: 9:05pm On May 22 |
FreeStuffsNG:
May God console the bereaved.
They elected a President who promised to slim down cost of their government and he started by firing air traffic controllers. Smh.
The wise ones are leaving their 'shithole' for Europe and elsewhere for the next 4 years and till US gets back her groove
I swear.
Anybody travelling by plane in America today, I bow for them..... una get mind.
Who would have thought that flying in Nigeria/Africa would become safer than flying in America?
''Saner climes'' are no longer sane with Trump the looney in office.
Can't even when last I heard of a plane crash in Africa.
4 Likes |
| malali: 9:05pm On May 22 |
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Emefiele must not be spared.
For Nigeria to truly begin its journey to justice and economic resurrection, the punishment for financial treason must be absolute, and without exemption.
Looting public funds isn’t just theft. It’s slow-motion genocide. It robs hospitals of equipment, schools of chalk, soldiers of ammo, and the nation of its future.
If the Nigerian government wants to prove it is serious, it must take a hard, unwavering stand, one that sends chills down the spine of every corrupt official, regardless of political party or connection.
Whether it’s APC, PDP, or Labour—corruption must become a capital offense in principle, if not in sentence.
Emefiele’s actions, if proven beyond doubt, should meet the harshest consequences permissible under law. Because until the system begins to truly punish elite economic predators, Nigeria will continue hemorrhaging its soul.
6 Likes 4 Shares |
| BlocksNG(m): 9:06pm On May 22 |
you and your generations will not succeed in life except you don't gain from anything coming from US
FreeStuffsNG:
May God console the bereaved.
Americans elected a President who promised to slim down cost of their government and he started by firing air traffic controllers. Smh.
The wise ones are leaving their 'shithole' for Europe and elsewhere for the next 4 years and till US gets back her groove
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| PUNANI01: 9:06pm On May 22 |
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America and flying corpse!
1 Like |
| 2cribz: 9:07pm On May 22 |
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Pilot dey take colos
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| Goldbw122(m): 9:08pm On May 22 |
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There is something that is fishy
2 Likes |
| Babangidapikin: 9:11pm On May 22 |
 Hmmm thank God all this crashes is not happening in Nigeria... I heard the Qatari family gifted the U.S President a Private Jet, they must have been very concerned about his safety.
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| samwash(m): 9:12pm On May 22 |
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Why are metal birds falling the US almost on a monthly basis.
God have mercy.
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| LibertyRep: 9:13pm On May 22 |
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Na wah o.
Whatever Nigeria is doing or has done in the aviation sector should be improved upon. It's working
1 Like |
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| themosthigh: 9:15pm On May 22 |
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Vhai
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| Edusouls(m): 9:17pm On May 22 |
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The days of the great America is gone, the American dream died long agoo, the decline of the empire is certain, my friend who is a medical doctor in USA is complaining of money when I beg him, na that time I understand say USA don finish na only name remain
2 Likes |
| Guestmale: 9:17pm On May 22 |
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May the Lord console the bereaved family.
1 Like |
| Anguldi(m): 9:17pm On May 22 |
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Residential area crash🤦
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| Anguldi(m): 9:19pm On May 22 |
Edusouls:
The days of the great America is gone, the American dream died long agoo, the decline of the empire is certain, my friend who is a medical doctor in USA is complaining of money when I beg him, na that time I understand say USA don finish na only name remain
Iffahear, maybe mortgage or other expenses 🤷
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| kiapla: 9:20pm On May 22 |
FreeStuffsNG:
May God console the bereaved.
Americans elected a President who promised to slim down cost of their government and he started by firing air traffic controllers. Smh.
The wise ones are leaving their 'shithole' for Europe and elsewhere for the next 4 years and till US gets back her groove
as poor as u are, u still av the effontry to say u know more than Trump in politics
3 Likes |
| Racoon(m): 9:23pm On May 22 |
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Have all the small planes in the US been bugged? What is it with all these endless plane crashes?
1 Like |
| 9Mosaic: 9:25pm On May 22 |
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This is terrible
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| 2tpick: 9:30pm On May 22 |
Edusouls:
The days of the great America is gone, the American dream died long agoo, the decline of the empire is certain, my friend who is a medical doctor in USA is complaining of money when I beg him, na that time I understand say USA don finish na only name remain
Are u sure he isn't punishing you for voting BAT? Lolzzz na joke
On a more serious note, him no wan give u
1 Like |
| tunjijones(m): 9:31pm On May 22 |
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US again?
Saner clime in the mud...
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