SAR: AIRCRAFT DOWN - Two small planes five miles south of Long Beach, CA

Aircraft down confirmed - -2009-05-18 - 17:46 - Open Water off Long Beach

Update: 1930hrs - Searchers have recovered a portion of landing gear and other debris near the site of a reported midair collision, according to authorities.

Long Beach fireboat came upon the landing gear and more debris in the water, "We know from the landing gear that at least one of them was a small plane," said Jackawa Jackson, a spokesman for the Long Beach Fire Department. "We’ve got seagoing companies including two large fire boats and a Coast Guard vessel searching a fairly large area right now."

"One of the planes was a Cessna 172 from Long Beach Airport,” Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said. "We do not know where the other craft departed from.”

No confirmation of victims.

Update: 1900hrs - Search and rescue teams from the U.S. Coast Guard and the Long Beach Fire Department have deployed Monday afternoon to a mid-air collision of two small planes five miles south of the California city of Long Beach off Catalina Island.

Authorities received a report of the collision at 5:45 p.m..

"The collision was reported by the pilot of another aircraft, who told authorities he had seen the crash," the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesman Ian Gregor said.

Possibly two light planes involved in a mid air collision a few miles off Long Beach.
IC: 1810rs - Long Beach Fire is the incident command with Coast Guard assist.
Comms: 151.1600
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Photo credit: Image taken Monday afternoon from the KNBC Channel 4 News helicopter of a U.S. Coast Guard rescue helicopter headed out to the channel off Long Beach to search for two planes that were involved in a mid-air collision.