AutoBlog picked up on a story out of Palo Alto, where it appears that 3 Tesla Motors employees died this morning in a plane crash. The plane was a twin-engined Cessna belonging to one of Tesla’s senior electrical engineers, Doug Bourn. Continue reading for more details, video and pictures.
Neighborhood resident Heather Starnes had this to say:
“[The plane] hit a power line. Then it exploded… then half hit the next door neighbor’s house and the other half hit across the street. We were right in the road.”
No injuries were reported on the ground, although several homes, including one used as a daycare facility, were damaged by parts of the plane.
A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told AutoBlog, that the “decision [to take off] would have been up to the pilot.” There was a dense fog warning issued for the Bay area this morning until 10 am, which may have led to the crash.
Via Twitter, it was reported that Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla Motors, was not on board the plane.
We’ll have more details as they are announced.
Video has surfaced regarding the plane crash, via KTVU of San Francisco:
Tesla Motors is the creator of the Tesla electric car, which takes a Lotus Elise and transforms it into a completely electric, plug-in sports car. The Tesla car has a sticker price of around $100,000 and goes from 160-200 miles on a charge. The gallery below has pictures of the Tesla sports car.
by John Suit
Source: AutoBlog, NTSB