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Two single-engine Cessnas collided in midair over Corona, California, on the afternoon of Jan. 20, 2008, killing four people aboard the planes and a fifth on the ground when wreckage crashed into a car dealership, authorities said.

The collision happened about 3:34 p.m., roughly a mile and a half south-southwest of Corona Municipal Airport, a small uncontrolled field about 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Witnesses along a commercial strip lined with auto dealerships called 911 as debris fell out of the sky.

The aircraft were a two-seat Cessna 150 and a four-seat Cessna 172, both flying in clear weather near the airport traffic pattern, the FAA said. The engine and part of the cockpit of the smaller plane tore through the roof of a Chevrolet dealership and killed a person inside, according to fire officials.

"I thought they were playing," said Pete Argueta, a salesman at a neighboring Nissan dealership, who watched coworkers scramble for cover before he saw small pieces of debris fall.

The Riverside County coroner's office identified the five dead as Scott Gayle Lawrence, 55, and Paul Luther Carlson, 73, both of Cerritos; Brandon William Johnson, 24, of Costa Mesa; Anthony Joel Guzman, 20, of Hesperia; and Earl Smiddy, 58, of Moreno Valley. Two people were aboard each plane, investigators said, and one person was killed on the ground.

The Cessna 150 had taken off from the airport and was rejoining the pattern when the two planes met, while the Cessna 172 was approaching to land, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Neither pilot had filed a flight plan, which is not required for that kind of flight.

The NTSB determined the probable cause of the accident was the failure of the pilots of both airplanes to see and avoid the other aircraft. Investigators found the planes converged as one entered the downwind leg after departure and the other joined the approach for the same runway.