Witness to terrifying plane crash in Goleta shares experience
GOLETA, Calif. – Steve Epstein says he was driving toward Montecito when he saw smoke and initially thought it might be a car fire. As he got closer, he realized the severity of the situation—a small aircraft had crashed in an open field between Los Carneros Road and Storke Road.
“There were some small explosions; you could hear things popping,” said Epstein, who captured video moments after the plane went down.
Epstein praised the first responders and good Samaritans who rushed to help the victims, who had sustained major injuries.
“And I was like, ‘Holy crap!’ That’s when I saw everybody running, dragging the people away—which was good. I mean, who knows how much bigger that fire was going to get or if it was going to explode,” said Epstein.
He noted that the lack of wind in the weather forecast helped prevent the flames from spreading further.
"If there had been any wind—there's not a ton of grass, but someone had mowed that field—it could have burned half of Goleta down."
Two professional pilots, ages 29 and 33, were transported to Cottage Hospital by ground ambulance with major injuries.
“The number of first responders I saw rolling in—they were not taking this lightly. Fortunately, they got that fire knocked down really quickly.”
As of now, the crash remains under investigation.