Small plane crashed hours before it was found

Authorities say a single-engine aircraft found on a northern San Diego County hillside Tuesday morning had crashed hours earlier.

One of its two occupants was killed and the other was taken to a hospital after the wreckage was spotted on a slope high above a highway in Oceanside.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says that according to preliminary information the plane took off from Oceanside Municipal Airport around 9 p.m. Monday and crashed about a quarter-mile south of the field.

Oceanside police spokesman Tom Bussey says he doesn’t have details but there was a report of some kind of a crash after 9 p.m. and officers searched for an hour in heavy fog and couldn’t find anything while looking in a riverbed.

At 7:14 a.m. Tuesday, a motorist reported seeing the wreckage high up on the steep slope along State Route 76.