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One Dead Following Plane Crash In Santa Barbara County

Santa Maria Fire department
The pilot of a plane is dead following a plane crash on a school campus in Orcutt.

Investigators are trying to figure out why a light plane crashed on a Central Coast school campus, killing its pilot.

The plane went down Wednesday morning on the grounds of Ralph Dunlap Elementary School in Orcutt. It missed the buildings on the campus, but crashed onto the basketball courts.

The wreckage caught fire, sending up a huge plume of smoke, but firefighters quickly knocked down the flames.

The pilot was pronounced dead at the scene. No one on the ground was hurt.

A home surveillance camera recorded video of the plane going down. The video shows that parachute was unsuccessfully deployed moments before the aircraft hit the ground.

The plane was just a few miles from Santa Maria Airport.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral. 
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