Pilot dead after light plane crashes in Los Angeles amid dense fog

One person was killed when a single-engine plane slammed into a grassy hillside above homes in a Los Angeles neighborhood amid dense fog, authorities said.

The Cessna C172 crashed around 8.45pm Saturday local time (1.45pm Sunday AEST) on the city's west side, about 13km south-east of Van Nuys Airport, the Los Angeles Fire Department and Federal Aviation Administration said.

Joubin Solemani was at home with his family in the upscale Beverly Crest area when they all heard a loud crash.

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"We thought it might be a car crash, but we looked outside and didn't see anything. We didn't know what the heck it was," Solemani said.

"Then search-and-rescue showed up and were all over the hillside."

After searching for several hours in darkness and "thick ground level fog," crews found the crash site and one person dead in the wreckage, the fire department said in a statement. The pilot was the plane's lone occupant, the FAA said.

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When the sun came up Sunday, Solemani said he could see the plane a few hundred metres above his property in the Santa Monica Mountains. "It's totally mangled," he said.

The plane avoided hitting power lines and a large water tank and, officials said, there was minimal fire.

An air traffic controller initially reported the plane as missing after losing radar contact with the aircraft while it was en route to Van Nuys Airport, the fire department said in an alert shortly after 8pm Saturday.

The flight originated at Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport in Thermal, California, near Palm Springs, according to the aircraft tracking website FlightAware.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.

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