A small aircraft crashed in a wooded area near Cottonwood, Tehama County, on Tuesday afternoon, leaving the pilot dead and a passenger seriously injured.
According to the Tehama County Sheriff’s Office, the crash happened shortly after 3:30 p.m. near Phyllis Road, just south of a private airstrip. Deputies and Cal Fire personnel responded to the scene, where they located the wreckage of a single-engine Aeronca Champion 7-EC.
One passenger managed to escape the wreckage and was treated on site before being airlifted to a hospital for further care. The pilot, whose identity has not yet been released, was pronounced dead at the scene. Local news shared a video of the crash site.
The aircraft was registered to a Cottonwood resident, according to FAA records. Federal investigators from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are leading the investigation into the cause of the crash.
