In brief: Midair crash near airport leaves five dead

SAN DIEGO – Two small planes collided midair while approaching an airport in San Diego County on Sunday, killing five people, authorities said.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Andrew Swick told KNSD-TV that four people were aboard a twin-engine Sabreliner jet that collided with a single-engine Cessna 172.

The jet was leased by military contractor BAE Systems, which said in a statement that its employees were aboard the aircraft.

Swick said the pilot of the Cessna, who was also killed in the crash, was on a cross-country trip.

Both planes were approaching Brown Field Municipal Airport in San Diego County when they collided.

The planes caught fire when they hit the ground and broke apart. First responders said the wreckage was strewn across a quarter-mile area.

Army skydriver dies from air show injuries

CHICAGO – A U.S. Army skydiver who had served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan died Sunday from injuries suffered in a midair collision with another jumper during a stunt at the Chicago Air & Water Show, authorities said.

Sgt. 1st Class Corey Hood, of Cincinnati, Ohio, who had recently turned 32, was pronounced dead Sunday afternoon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said Mario Johnson, a Cook County medical examiner’s investigator.

Hood had logged more than 200 free-fall jumps and 75 military static line jumps during his career, according to his Army biography.

The Army Golden Knights and Navy Leap Frogs parachute teams were performing what is known as a “bomb burst” Saturday when the collision occurred, Golden Knights spokeswoman Donna Dixon said. During the stunt, parachutists fall with red smoke trailing from packs and then separate, creating a colorful visual in the sky.

Dixon said Hood collided with a member of the Navy’s precision skydiving team.

Hood was knocked unconscious, “which resulted in an uncontrolled offsite landing,” Dixon said in a statement.

The other parachutist, who has not been identified, landed on North Avenue Beach near the main viewing area for the show, Fire Department spokesman Juan Hernandez said Saturday. He was treated for a broken leg.

Pilot killed in small plane crash on railway

HICKSVILLE, N.Y. – A small, single-engine plane crashed onto a Long Island railroad crossing Sunday, killing the pilot, injuring a passenger and shutting down service on a branch of the nation’s busiest commuter rail line, officials said.

The plane crashed at a railway crossing between the Hicksville and Bethpage stations of the Long Island Rail Road around 7:45 a.m., authorities said.

Residents of a nearby senior living facility said they heard a loud noise and saw the craft on fire. Bystanders ran to the scene but had to get back because of the flames, Charles Terzano told Newsday.

The name of the pilot was not immediately released. The passenger, identified as Carl Giordano, 55, of New Vernon, New Jersey, had a broken jaw, cuts and bruises, Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Salvatore Arena said.

Famous join effort to change state flag

JACKSON, Miss. – Jimmy Buffett, John Grisham, Morgan Freeman and former New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning are among famous current and former Mississippi residents asking the state to remove the Confederate battle emblem from its flag.

The famed musician, author, actor and athlete joined 60 others in signing a letter titled “A Flag for All of Us,” that appeared as a full-page ad in Sunday’s edition of the Clarion-Ledger.

“It is simply not fair, or honorable, to ask black Mississippians to attend schools, compete in athletic events, work in the public sector, serve in the National Guard, and go about their normal lives with a state flag that glorifies a war fought to keep their ancestors enslaved,” the letter states.

Others who signed it include Kathryn Stockett, author of “The Help,” Grammy-winning producer Glen Ballard, Basketball Hall of Famer Bailey Howell, former Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale, former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Reuben Anderson, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Ford and former Gov. William Winter.

Deputy killed in shootout with man ID’d

CARSON CITY, Nev. – Hundreds of people crowded a plaza at the Nevada Capitol grounds for a candlelight vigil honoring a Carson City sheriff’s deputy who died earlier that day after a domestic violence call ended in a shootout.

The Reno Police Department, which has taken over the investigation, identified the deputy as Carl Howell, a nine-year veteran of the sheriff’s department who is survived by his wife and four young children.