Saturday’s roadway crash injured three people a day after another aircraft made a crash landing at Reid-Hillview Airport.
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Two small-plane accidents were reported in San Jose on consecutive days, including a Saturday crash that sent two adults and a child to a hospital after their aircraft came down on a roadway near Capitol Expressway.
The Saturday crash was the more serious of the two incidents. The San Jose Fire Department said a small propeller plane went down near Capitol Expressway and Excalibur Drive shortly after 3 p.m. The three people aboard suffered injuries that were not considered life-threatening, and no one on the ground was reported hurt.
Federal Aviation Administration records cited by local news organizations identify the aircraft involved Saturday as a 1968 Cessna 177A Cardinal registered to Flying Twenty Inc., a nonprofit flight club associated with San Jose State University students, alumni and faculty. Authorities had not announced the cause of the crash by Sunday.
The aircraft landed on the roadway without striking another vehicle, according to fire officials. The crash caused a minor fuel spill, which crews contained and absorbed while firefighters and other responders worked at the scene. Officials temporarily urged people to avoid the area during the response.
The incident followed a separate aircraft accident Friday evening at Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose. Firefighters responded to the airport just before 6:30 p.m. after a small plane crash-landed because of faulty landing gear, according to the Fire Department.
Two people were aboard the aircraft in Friday’s incident. Neither was injured, and both were able to leave the plane without assistance. Fire officials also said that crash did not cause a fuel spill.
The two accidents occurred under different circumstances. Friday’s aircraft remained at the airport and encountered a landing-gear problem, while Saturday’s plane came down on a public roadway. Authorities have not reported evidence that the incidents were connected.
Saturday’s crash drew additional attention because the aircraft came to rest along a road used by motorists rather than within airport grounds. Despite that setting, emergency officials said no vehicles were involved and no injuries beyond those suffered by the three aircraft occupants were reported.
San Jose police said drugs and alcohol did not appear to be factors in Saturday’s crash. Officials had not released the identities of the two adults or the child, and authorities had not publicly detailed what happened in the moments before the plane went down.
The back-to-back incidents leave investigators with separate questions. The landing-gear problem in Friday’s accident was identified by fire officials, but the cause of Saturday’s roadway crash remained undetermined Sunday. No official findings explaining the latter crash had been released.
All five people aboard the two aircraft survived. Three were hospitalized after Saturday’s crash with non-life-threatening injuries, while the two occupants in Friday’s Reid-Hillview accident were unhurt. Authorities continued to investigate Saturday’s crash.
Author note: Last updated October 18, 2026.