---
title: "Pilot Hurt After Small Plane Crash-Lands in a Ventura County Riverbed"
description: "A single-engine plane came down in the Santa Clara Riverbed near Santa Paula Airport on Saturday afternoon, leaving the pilot — the only person aboard — with minor injuries and drawing federal investigators to the rocky scene."
category: "Los Angeles"
category_url: https://herald.la/category/los-angeles
author: "Hana Nakamura"
published: 2026-06-28T00:38:28.000Z
updated: 2026-06-28T00:38:28.000Z
canonical: https://herald.la/article/pilot-hurt-after-small-plane-crash-lands-in-a-ventura-county-riverbed
tags: ["Ventura County", "Santa Paula", "plane crash", "aviation", "NTSB", "FAA"]
---
# Pilot Hurt After Small Plane Crash-Lands in a Ventura County Riverbed

A single-engine plane came down in the Santa Clara Riverbed near Santa Paula Airport on Saturday afternoon, leaving the pilot — the only person aboard — with minor injuries and drawing federal investigators to the rocky scene.

A small plane crash-landed in the Santa Clara Riverbed just east of Santa Paula Airport early Saturday afternoon, and the pilot escaped with what authorities described as minor injuries.

## Pilot climbed free before crews arrived

The single-engine aircraft went down around 1 p.m., according to Ventura County firefighters [cited by CBS News Los Angeles](https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/santa-paula-airport-plane-crash-santa-clara-riverbed-ventura-county/). The pilot, who was alone aboard, managed to get out of the wreckage before rescuers reached the scene. Firefighters then lifted the pilot from the riverbed and took the person to a hospital with minor injuries.

Photos released by the fire department showed the plane's landing gear had separated from the aircraft on impact with the rocky riverbed.

## Cause under investigation

The aircraft had departed from Glendale, Arizona, before coming down in Ventura County, according to CBS Los Angeles. What prompted the emergency landing has not been disclosed.

The scene was handed off to the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, which leads investigations of civil aviation accidents. The NTSB typically issues a preliminary report within a few weeks, while a final determination of probable cause can take a year or more. Authorities had not released the pilot's name as of Saturday evening.

## Sources

- [Pilot injured after small plane crashes into Santa Clara Riverbed in Santa Paula](https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/santa-paula-airport-plane-crash-santa-clara-riverbed-ventura-county/)
- [Plane crash-lands in Ventura County riverbed](https://ktla.com/news/ventura-county/plane-crash-lands-in-ventura-county-riverbed/)