Dead After Small Plane Crashes in California

A family friend confirmed to ABC7 News that the victims are Jason and Olga Price, along with their their two daughters and a son.

Debris from the plane was scattered for a quarter-mile, Lt. Bill Smallwood of the Kern County, Calif., Sheriff’s Department said.

Five people perished in the crash.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane around 4 p.m. Saturday, Gregor said.

In this photo provided by the Bakersfield Californian, investigators search a field for debris from an aircraft crash in Bakersfield, Calif., Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015. The plane, with a tail number of N36402, departed from San Jose, California, and was bound for Henderson, Nevada.

A meteorologist with the National Weather Service said it was rainy and cloudy in the area south of Bakersfield around the time the plane dropped off radar.

Five people had been killed in a plane crash in an almond orchard, according to the Kern County Sheriffs Office. The aircraft sent a mayday call and searchers spotted the wreckage southwest of Bakersfield about three hours after receiving an FAA alert about a missing plane.

Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were on scene Sunday morning, trying to determine the cause of the crash.

It can take the NTSB months or longer to find the probable cause for an accident, CNN reported.

Mark Christian 23ABC speaks with KCSO Senior Deputy John Carpenter on the plane debris that was found near Panama Lane.