Pilot dies as plane crashes, hits FedEx truck in Calif.

A small plane crashed into a FedEx truck Monday afternoon shortly after taking off in central California, killing the pilot, authorities said.

The truck driver was delivering packages at a biotech company in San Luis Obispo and was not hurt when the twin-engine Cessna slammed into the truck, The Tribunereported. The pilot was the only one aboard the plane and has not yet been identified.

The manager of the regional airport, Richard Howell, told local media that the pilot had reported problems with the Skymaster P337H, a so-called push-pull aircraft that has one engine in the front and another in the rear. The plane, which was produced between 1963 and 1982, can seat six people. Federal Aviation Administration records state the plane in Monday's crash first flew in 1977.

Howell told KSBY-TV the crash happened about 1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET) as the pilot was attempting to return to the airport. The plane hit the FedEx truck next to the Promega Biosciences, which develops and manufactures luminescent and fluorescent chemicals for drug development, genetic identification and cell biology. The company's 55 employees were evacuated safely.

Investigators from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were headed to the scene.

An FAA official told KSBY-TV that the plane was registered to a San Luis Obispo business and had been bought last month in Napa, Calif.

FAA records indicate the plane was sold to CSC Solutions, which provides custom computer programming. The company is owned by Scott Metzger.