Click the play button on the video window to the right to see the storyCOOLIDGE, AZ – Two people aboard a plane that crashed after a mid-air collision near Phoenix on Wednesday were student pilots, according to the FAA.
Spokesperson Ian Gregor said both were part of a Phoenix-area flight school. One of the two was killed in the crash; the second was airlifted to a local hospital.
Lieutenant Tamatha Villar with the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office said the collision - between two planes - happened around 10 a.m. near Arizona Boulevard and Coolidge Road in Coolidge.
Eyewitnesses describe the crashAir15 video showed one of the two planes in pieces on the ground, lying upside down with heavy wing damage.
The tail from the plane was separated from the main cabin, sitting about a block away in another field.
One person on board this first plane, a single-engine Cessna 150, was killed and the other was airlifted to a hospital, Gregor said. The plane was on its way from Glendale to Tucson.
Coolidge police officers said the victim that was killed had been thrown from the plane about 100 feet.
You can see pictures from the scene in the attached photo slideshow.Witness Marino Lopez lives at the edge of the field where the first plane crashed. He said he saw the plane falling with one wing ripped off.
"When I first saw it, I thought it was going to land in my backyard," Marino said.
The tail was also snapped and the plane was spinning in circles, according to Marino. He said it looked almost like a kite - out of control.
Air15 video also showed the second plane from the crash sitting in another field, about two miles away.
There was damage to the propeller and front end, however most of the plane was intact.
The plane, a single-engine Piper Cherokee, is reportedly registered to Oxford Airline Training Center out of Goodyear. The pilot and a passenger were not hurt, and walked away from the scene, according to Gregor.
Inspectors with the FAA and National Transportation Safety board are investigating.
The cause of the crash is unknown.
Coolidge is about 40 miles southeast of Phoenix.
