Mississippi Plane Crash: 3 Reported Dead as Aircraft Slams Into Home
Authorities say all three people aboard a plane were killed when it crashed into a house in a Jackson, Miss., neighborhood.
The Piper PA-32 single-engine plane went down Tuesday evening in a neighborhood of modest, single-family homes near Hawkins Field Airport.
A deputy fire chief told WJTV in Jackson that one person escaped the burning home with minor injuries, but it was not immediately clear if anyone else was inside. One patient from the scene was in good condition at University of Mississippi Medical Center, said spokesman Jack Mazurak. He wouldn't give the person's name or gender, or the extent of the injuries, citing privacy laws.
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen did not immediately have information about the condition of the people aboard the Piper PA-32 single-engine plane. A single home was hit, said Jackson Fire Department Assistant Chief R.D. Simpson and a coroner was on the scene. The fire appeared to be extinguished.
Roger and Michele Latham, of Superior Pallet Company in Flowood, Miss., own the plane, said their grown daughter, Emily Latham. Latham was near the crash site and said that her father was supposed to have been onboard but changed his plans.
"He went hunting," she said. "Thank God."
Witnesses say large flames and black smoke rose about 50 feet from a burning house that was hit in the neighborhood of modest, single-family homes surrounded by big magnolia and oak trees about a half-mile from the Jackson Zoo.
The plane had just departed Hawkins Field Airport headed for Raymond, Miss., the FAA said.
The plane took off at 5:10 p.m. and, shortly after, the pilot asked for permission to return to the airport, according to a news release from the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority. The plane was unable to return and crashed.
Vivian Payne, who lives about six blocks from the crash site, said that she heard a loud bang.
"It shook the walls of my house," Payne said as she stood among ambulances, police cars and firetrucks, their lights flashing in the chilly night air.
The weather in Jackson was partly cloudy and in the 40s.
The National Transportation Safety Board along with the FAA will be investigating the cause of the crash.
See also:
Indianapolis House Explosion Possibly Caused by Furnace, Homeowner Says
Man Killed as Explosion Destroys Connecticut Home
Shantonia Heard of Atlanta Left Her Two Kids Alone in Apartment With No Power, Cops Say
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