Small plane crashes in Southern California prison yard

N-9M Flying Wing at the Planes of Fame Air Museum

NORCO, Calif. (AP) – Authorities say nobody on the ground was hurt when a small plane crashed in the exercise yard of a state prison in Southern California.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer says the Northrop N-9M aircraft crashed Monday at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco.

Kenitzer says the pilot was the only person on board. The condition of the pilot isn’t immediately known.

Television news footage shows debris spread across a scorched patch of empty yard at the facility about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of downtown Los Angeles.

State corrections officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for details.

The N-9M was a flying wing developed in the 1940s.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.

The prison in Riverside County houses about 3,400 male inmates.