9-29-13 – Location – Santa Monica – Plane Crashes Into Hangar And Explodes

 Investigators this morning were waiting for a crane to lift a collapsed hangar off the scorched wreckage of a private jet that crashed after it landed at a Southern California airport Sunday night.

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A twin-engine Cessna Citation 525A plane that took off from Hailey, Idaho, went off the right side of the runway on landing, struck a hangar and burst into flames at Santa Monica Airport 6:20 p.m., Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.

Authorities do not expect to find any survivors amid the smoking debris.

“This was an unsurvivable crash,” Santa Monica Fire Department Capt. John Nevandro said Sunday night at a media briefing.

Firefighters said they were unable to get into the wrecked hangar to search for possible victims when they arrived on the scene Sunday night.

“When we got there, the whole hangar that the plane went into was completely involved and full of flames,” Nevandro said.

While the plane can hold up to eight passengers and two crew members, the number of people onboard the aircraft was not immediately known, officials said.

Residents said they ran outside after hearing a loud boom and saw thick clouds of smoke billowing from the airport.

“It was very, very terrifying. It was very sad to see so much smoke, and the building collapsed and the loud boom. You put it all together and it’s scary,” Alyssa Laing told ABC Los Angeles station KABC-TV.

“There was chaos everywhere – neighbors running around, sirens everywhere and just a lot of very black smoke and a lot of scared people,” Angelica Barbosa said.

Santa Monica Airport manager Stelios Makrides told ABC News the hangar is right next to homes that border the airport.

National Transportation Security Board spokesman Keith Holloway told ABC News that officials were on scene investigating the crash, but were still not able to access the aircraft as of this morning.

The plane’s tail number is unknown. The aircraft is registered to a Malibu, Calif., address of a company called Creative Real Estate Exchange, KABC-TV reported.

Santa Monica Airport is home to private jets owned by entertainment industry elites, the Associated Press reported. The airport in Hailey serves Idaho’s Sun Valley resort area, a frequent destination for celebrities.