AUSTIN, Texas — At least one person is dead after two planes collided at an airport in Arizona on Monday.
The Federal Aviation Authority said that around 3:45 p.m. CST, a Learjet 35A veered off the runway after landing and crashed into a Gulfstream G200 business jet. The Scottsdale Fire Department said the Learjet veered after its main landing gear failed.
The fire department reported that five people were involved in the crash. One person was dead on arrival, while two others were taken to the hospital in critical condition. A fourth person sustained non-life-threatening injuries and the last person refused medical attention.
Airport officials said the Learjet left Austin for Scottsdale before it collided with another jet that was parked on private property.
KVUE’s sister station KPNX reported that Learjet is registered to Chromed in Hollywood, Inc., owned by Mötley Crüe’s Vince Neil. The Gulfstream is owned by a private jet charter company based in Scottsdale, Jet Pros. No identities of anyone involved in the crash have been released.
The crash shut down the airport’s runway and it’s unclear when it will reopen.
The airport is a popular hub for jets coming in and out of the Phoenix area, especially during big sports weekends like the Waste Management Phoenix Open golf tournament, which attracts huge crowds just a few miles away.
The Scottsdale collision comes after three major U.S. aviation disasters in the past two weeks. A commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter collided near the nation’s capital on Jan. 29, killing 67 people. A medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing the six people on board and another person on the ground. And last week a small commuter plane crashed in western Alaska on its way to the hub community of Nome, killing all 10 people on board.