Two men were injured but able to walk away from a small plane crash near the Redlands Airport Friday afternoon.

A witness reported the plane crash to Redlands Police shortly before 2 p.m. Friday, June 22. Minutes later one of the plane’s occupants called police dispatchers also reporting the crash with injuries.

The Redlands Police Department’s Air Support Unit proved crucial in guiding officers and other emergency crews to the crash site, which was above a gravel pit at a sand and gravel operation near the Santa Ana River Wash.

Initial reports indicated that the plane, a two-seat 1946 Commonwealth, had gone down at the end of the Redlands Airport runway, at the southeast end of the airport.

The Redlands Air Support Unit was on the ground when the call came in but was in the air and on scene within a minute and able to determine that the crash site was at the northwest end of the airport at the top of an embankment above a sand and gravel pit.

Officer Justin Jimenez, who was riding as an observer in the RPD’s Cessna 172, dubbed Air-10, was able to guide emergency crews along the dirt roads leading to the crash site.

Two occupants of the plane, a 56-year-old Calimesa man and a 26-year-old San Bernardino man, suffered moderate to severe injuries, including lacerations, but were able to walk down a 200-foot embankment from the crash site. They were transported to a local hospital.

The men had taken off from Redlands Airport minutes earlier on their way to Rubidoux. They reported that they were unable to gain altitude when they crashed into the embankment.

The plane hit the top of the embankment and skipped another 30 feet before coming to rest. The plane appeared to suffer major structural damage in the crash.

Federal authorities are investigating the cause of the crash.

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