Long Beach Plane Emergency Leaves Two Hospitalized

Two separate small-aircraft emergency landings occurred in Southern California on Tuesday. In Long Beach, around 4 p.m., a possibly experimental two-seat canard-type plane made an emergency belly landing on a soccer field at Heartwell Park with broken landing gear and struck a pedestrian; an elderly male pilot and a woman in her 40s were taken to hospital in moderate but stable condition and the crash is under investigation. Preliminary reports said the aircraft had been headed back toward Compton after a stop in French Valley and may have been attempting to reach Long Beach Airport about 1.5 miles away; witnesses described a very low-flying plane and aerial footage showed debris and a cracked rear wing as crews cordoned off the scene. Separately, near Mission Beach in San Diego just before noon, a single-engine Cessna registered to Aero Standard Ltd. made an unplanned landing on the sand close to the water after departing Oceanside; two people aboard were uninjured and no beachgoers were hurt. Officials said the San Diego aircraft appeared to have had a mechanical issue while investigators continue probing the Long Beach landing.