By Emily Alvarenga & Caleb Lunetta

Signal Senior Staff Writers

Reports of an aircraft crash landing at Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic prompted a full response from law enforcement and first responders Tuesday, with initial reports indicating the plane’s occupants were not injured.

The incident was first reported shortly after 3 p.m. near Hasley Canyon Road and Interstate 5, according to Los Angeles County Fire Department representative Charisma Murrillo.

Initial reports from a passerby indicated a small plane had crashed into a field, though that had yet to be confirmed by officials who had yet to arrive on the scene as of 3:15 p.m., Murrillo said.

Upon arrival, firefighters located the plane, which reportedly had a “hard landing,” Murrillo later added.

Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel respond to an aircraft down in a field near Pitchess Detention Center on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. Bobby Block/The Signal

“We have a small-engine plane that did a hard landing on Pitchess Detention Center property,” said Deputy Eva Jimenez of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau. “The two male, adult occupants were uninjured and there was no damage to the plane.”

Jimenez said that initial reports indicated that the cause for the hard landing was engine troubles.

A number of first responder and law enforcement vehicles could be seen driving into the Pitchess Detention Center facility with lights on following the reported hard landing.