BAE staff among five dead in California mid-air crash

Two small planes crashed midair as they approached Brown Field Municipal Airport in Otay Mesa Sunday morning, killing at least four people and igniting brush fires in a nearby field where the plane wreckage landed.

The Sabreliner came to rest between state Route 125 and Harvest while the Cessna was north of Lone Star Road, inside a San Diego wildlife natural refuge.

San Diego Fire-Rescue firefighters extinguished the flames at the plane wreckage within 40 minutes, but the resultant brush fire was still burning.

The fourth was a contract employee with the military contracting company, which leased the aircraft.

The planes caught fire when they hit the ground and broke apart.

The crash was reported around 11 a.m. about two miles northeast of the airport, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor.

Andrew Swick, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator, told KNSD-TV that the pilot of the Cessna was on a cross-country trip.

The collision sparked several small fires and left a field near the R.J. Donovan Correction Center littered with pieces of aircraft.

The FAA and the NTSB are now investigating the cause of the crash. One firefighter was transported to a hospital with heat-related injuries while fighting one of the fires in near-100 degree temperatures, he said.