According to the U.S. civil aviation regulatory agency, the FAA, two people were on board a Cessna 340 and a third was in a Cessna 152.
The planes collided as the pilots were approaching Watsonville Municipal Airport, a small airport about 75 miles (75 km) south of San Francisco, the FAA said in a statement. The city of Watsonville reported on Twitter that there were “several fatalities”, without going into detail.
The FAA has announced that an investigation into the crash will be launched by the US Transportation Safety Board.