Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department search and rescue teams were working alongside the Civil Air Patrol on Wednesday to locate a possibly downed aircraft in the San Gabriel Mountain range.
A loud explosion was heard late Tuesday night, with some reports indicating that Placerita Canyon residents could hear an explosion nearby, and authorities were notified that it could have been a downed aircraft, according to law enforcement. An emergency beacon was detected from what could have been possibly an aircraft crashed, but nothing had been found as of Wednesday morning.
“We are looking at the western portion of the San Gabriel Mountain range,” said Lt. Doug Mohrhoff of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station. “Apparently, an (Federal Aviation Administration) emergency beacon was detected.”
The ongoing effort Wednesday focused on the mountains near Newhall after the beacon ping came in at approximately 2:45 a.m. in the area. At approximately 11:50 a.m., Deputy Natalie Arriaga of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station said no aircraft had yet been found, but the search remained ongoing.
A command post for the search effort had been established at the Newhall library at the corner of Lyons Avenue and Railroad Avenue.
FAA officials confirmed Wednesday they received reports from local law enforcement of a possible downed aircraft in the vicinity of Santa Clarita on Tuesday night.
“Law enforcement contacted the FAA in response to resident reports of a possible crash,” said Ian Gregor, a public affairs specialist for the FAA. “No aircraft have been reported missing or overdue in that area.”
Los Angeles County Fire Department officials said they were assisting with the search with a helicopter, but none of the assisting agencies had yet found anything.
“We’ve gotten a few phone calls from news agencies,” said Public Information Officer Jonathan Matheny. “We don’t have anything like that right now.”
