‘Debris everywhere still burning': Family whose house was hit by plane shares what they saw

Yahoo

24-05-2025

(FOX 5/KUSI) — While more than a dozen homes on Sample Street in San Diego were damaged in an early morning plane crash on Thursday, there's a corner house on the block that took a direct hit from the aircraft.
Despite the strong impact against the home and the multiple fires set off along the street by spilled fuel, all four members of the family and their four pets survived.
'The living room looked like, this is the only way I can describe it, like in movies when they show a meteor hit, and you see the debris everywhere still burning, and burning holes through the ground. That's what my living room looked like,' said Srujana McCarty.
The McCarty family, like most families in the surrounding military neighborhood, was asleep when the crash happened around 3:47 a.m. on Thursday.
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Officials said six people were on the plane when it crashed, and that all are presumed to have died. No one on the ground perished, but several people received medical treatment.
For Ben McCarty, the experience of escaping from his burning home was like no other.
'You would expect to face tragedies like that in the military, situations that put you in stress, but for it to happen at your home, it's definitely one of the hardest things to have experienced,' he said.
Investigators are working to determine what may have caused the plane to go down just a few miles from Montgomery Gibbs Executive Airport, the plane's destination.
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On Sample Street and some surrounding roadways, around 100 people had to leave their homes after the crash and navigate through a giant debris field that included multiple fires sparked by spilled fuel.
The McCarty family said they escaped through their backyard and received help from their neighbors.
'There were a lot of angels who helped us and it's just attributed to the military training,' Ben said.
Since the crash, he has been dealing with the aftermath on a personal level.
'Even like last night, any little noise, it was really hard to sleep. Even the chime from opening the door system, a little beep or something, it's all kind of triggering. And any time I would hear like a car going through the speed bumps, it makes you jolt,' Ben said.
He said that the tragedy has left him thinking about how a home should be a place of security and comfort. How he and his family regularly secure their house when it's time for bed, locking doors and setting the alarm.
He has also thought about how it can all change in an instant.
'You're in your home and you're safe, and then you have a plane come crashing through your house.'
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