Editorials

SAN JOSE — A small airplane hit a fence, clipped a tree and crash landed in a field near a high school Friday. 

No one was injured in the crash, according to a San Jose Fire Department employee. 

One man who witnessed the accident, Rich Williams, said he saw the plane bank hard, plow through a fence and hit a tree before coming to rest near Del Mar High School shortly after 6 p.m. 

The plane barely missed some high-voltage power lines in the area, Williams said. The plane also struck bleachers on an athletic field and finally spun to a stop near some baseball batting cages. 

“I saw this guy coming into the northwest struggling and sputtering,” Williams said. “He did a sharp bank heading south and he was out of fuel and I said ‘this guy is coming down.”’ 

The plane was intact after the crash and fire crews were on hand, though no fires broke out and damage in the area was minimal. Federal Aviation Administration investigators were at the scene late Friday, but the cause of the emergency crash landing had not been determined, local authorities said.