Plane Crash on Catalina Island Leaves 3 Injured

Los Angeles County firefighters extinguish flames in a Cessna 310 aircraft and surrounding brush after it crashed near the airport on Santa Catalina Island (AP Photo/Catalina Islander Newspaper, Dan Teckenoff)

A small plane crash on Santa Catalina Island Sunday afternoon left three people injured and ignited a brush fire. The incident occurred around 3:40 p.m. when a twin-engine Cessna 310 experienced a failed engine as it left the the island's "Airport in the Sky," crashing about a half-mile away, according to the Associated Press.

The 52-year-old pilot and the two passengers in the Orange County-bound plane were all airlifted by helicopter to hospitals.

A three-acre brush fire was knocked down by firefighters in one hour.