Vintage warplane’s pilot dies in crash

The pilot of a vintage warplane was killed Saturday when he crashed in the Santa Susana Mountains near Porter Ranch, authorities said.

A Los Angeles Fire Department rescue helicopter responded to an alert about a plane down in the area about 2:40 p.m., officials said. The crash site was in remote terrain about two miles north of Porter Ranch. A fire paramedic was lowered into the debris field and found the deceased pilot there, said LAFD spokesman Brian Humphrey. The pilot was the plane’s only occupant.

There was no fire, and the cause of the crash is under investigation.

Fire officials described the plane as a “privately owned single-engine propeller-driven fixed-wing twoseat airplane.” News footage showed it was a vintage U.S. warplane with the wings and cockpit damaged.

The Federal Aviation Administration has been notified, and the Los Angeles County Fire Department was to investigate.