Plane owned by Tesla exec crashes; 3 employees killed

According to Mark Rechtin, writing for Automotive News, three Tesla Motors employees were killed when a private plane owned by a Tesla executive crashed this morning near Palo Alto, Calif., press reports said.

The identities of the occupants were not disclosed. According to SFGate.com and other reports, the plane was owned by Doug Bourn, a senior electrical engineer for the electric sports car maker. It was not known whether Bourn was on board.

According to SFGate, the plane was bound for Hawthorne Airport near Los Angeles and crashed shortly after takeoff from Palo Alto airport.

According to FAA spokesman Ian Gregor, the twin-engine Cessna 310 departed around 8 a.m. PDT and crashed into houses one mile northeast of the airport.

All three people onboard were killed. The weather was foggy at the time of the crash. However, the FAA does not know if weather was a factor in the accident. Three FAA safety investigators are on the scene, and an NTSB investigator is scheduled to arrive this afternoon.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted this statement on the company's Web site this afternoon:

"Three Tesla employees were on board a plane that crashed in East Palo Alto early this morning. We are withholding their identities as we work with the relevant authorities to notify the families. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. Tesla is a small, tightly-knit company, and this is a tragic day for us."

Oakland TV station KTVU quoted a man who was at the Palo Alto airport when the plane took off saying the passengers included a high-ranking Tesla official.

Wired.com said it had confirmed that J.B. Straubel, Tesla's chief technology officer, wasn't aboard.