2 men killed in small plane crash at Van Nuys Airport

LOS ANGELES - Local and federal authorities were investigating after two men were killed in a small plane crash at the Van Nuys Airport Wednesday morning.

Tower controllers told FOX 11 the aircraft was in-pattern on the descent before it crashed on the runway at 10:37 a.m. 

In a press conference, Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Erik Scott said they received a call from a civilian reporting what they thought was a helicopter crash.

At the same time, Capt. Karla Rodriguez with LA Airport Police said an officer with the department was standing a few feet away from where the fixed-wing single-engine aircraft crashed and erupted into flames. 

LAFD firefighters with Fire Station 114 arrived within one minute and positioned themselves at the nose of the plane. They quickly knocked down the fire after creating a foam blanket and the two victims in the single-engine CSA SportCruiser were pronounced dead at the scene.  

Capt. Scott said the aircraft crashed nose-first into the ground. The identities of the victims have not been released. 

At the time of the crash, the area was seeing clear skies and south winds around 10 mph. Information from FlightAware indicates the plane was in the air for 14 minutes and had a flight earlier in the morning without incident. 

Runway 60 was temporarily closed before reopening and officials said there was no major impact to airport operations. 

The FAA and NTSB were investigating the cause of the crash.