Three people were killed and two are still missing after a U.S. Navy helicopter crashed Tuesday night in the water off the San Diego coast.

Rescue crews from the Coast Guard and other agencies have recovered the bodies of three of the five people on board, and are continuing to search for the other two.

The cause of the helicopter crash is not yet known, nor are the names of the people on board.

The night before, a pilot reported seeing two small planes crash mid-air off the coast of Southern California. The Coast Guard announced today that it has suspended its search for survivors.

Rescue efforts had been focused around a 160-square-mile area off Long Beach Harbor, where the planes were spotted after taking off from Long Beach Airport.

One plane has been identified as a single-engine Cessna 172, flown by a student pilot and a flight instructor. Some debris from the wreck has been recovered and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department will continue to search for more wreckage.

Meanwhile, investigators are trying to determine the cause of a home-built plane crash in San Diego County on Saturday, which killed the two people on board.

According to Ian Gregor of the FAA, the experimental plane’s wing fell came off around 2:35 p.m. after the pilot was performing stunts mid-air.

The plane was a Bakeng Deuce, an open-cockpit, single-wing plane that can be assembled from a kit.

The pilot and passenger killed were local residents and had taken off from the nearby Ramona Airport.

By Sarika Chawla for PeterGreenberg.com.

Related links: CNN, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, WSPA, North County Times, San Diego Union-Tribune

Read more about air safety in our Travel Safety & Security – Plane Crashes section.

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