A twin-engine Cessna 310 plane that was headed for Southern California crashed earlier today in an East Palo Alto neighborhood. San Francisco based KTVU reported that the pilot was an  employee with Tesla Motors. A spokeswoman for Tesla said that the company has not received any confirmation on the occupants at the time of the crash.

The Cessna 310 is registered to a company named Air Unique Inc. According to the Secretary of State website the company is registered to one Mr. Doug Bourn, who works as  an electrical engineer at Tesla, where he was part of a crew that designed and tested the Power Electronics Module for the Tesla Roadster.

Harold Schapelhouman, Fire Chief of Menlo Park reported that the plane struck a high-tension power line and caused a power outage in most surrounding areas. The wing was torn off on impact and landed atop a nearby day care center. The plane then crashed in a heavily populated residential area, where it destroyed atleast three more homes. It is believed that no one on the ground has been injured.

It is believed that the crash could have been caused as a result of a mechanical failure or poor visibility in fog. The Federal Aviation Administration has already dispatched a team to the site of the crash to conduct a detailed investigation. A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration said the plane was headed for Hawthorne Municipal Airport in Southern California.

We’ll keep you updated as we receive more information on the occupants and the cause of the crash.

Update: Wired reports that a Tesla spokesperson has confirmed with Jalopnik that all three people aboard the plane were Tesla employees.

via MercuryNews