Victims of Watsonville airport mid-air collision identified

WATSONVILLE  — Authorities have identified three people killed along with a dog when two small planes collided while trying to land last week at the Watsonville airport.

Two pilots and a passenger died in the collision Thursday afternoon at Watsonville Municipal Airport, authorities said.

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff-Coroner's Office identified them as Carl Kruppa, 75, of Winton, California; Nannette Plett-Kruppa, 67, also of Winton; and Stuart Camenson, 32, of Santa Cruz.

Officials did not say which of the victims were pilots and who was the passenger.

 Mitch Valdez works at the Napa Auto Parts store near the Watsonville airport. He and others raced out into the parking lot after they felt an explosion.

They looked toward the airport and a massive plume of black and white smoke soared skyward. Valdez said he was stunned by what he saw.

"It (the impact of the collision) shook our building, rattled our doors," he told KPIX. "We ran outside to the parking lot. (There was) a massive plume of  black and white smoke and fire on the runway."

"It's like surviving an accident. You're in shock. You can't believe is is happening."

One of the planes crashed in a grassy area near a runway. The second slammed into a hanger, destroying the structure. The cause of the crash is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration.

There were two people and a dog aboard a twin-engine Cessna 340 and only the pilot aboard a single-engine Cessna 152 during the crash, NTSB investigator Fabian Salazar said last week.

A preliminary report on the fatal collision from the NTSB is expected in about two weeks, Salazar said.