Plane carrying 3 pilots crashes into Mississippi house
A Jackson police officer said he looked up in the sky and saw the Piper PA-32 “spitting and sputtering” as if it was out of fuel.
Three pilots flying to a federal safety conference in Mississippi were killed when their single-engine plane crashed into a house.
AP reported a witness, a police officer from Jackson, said the plane appeared to be "sputtering" as if it was out of fuel.
The group had just taken off from Hawkins Field Airport in Jackson about 5pm on Tuesday and had intended to fly 30 miles to the safety conference when they began to experience difficulties.
One of the pilots asked for permission to return to the airport, but just minutes later the plane crashed into through trees and into a house, bursting into flames.
Michele Latham, one of the owners of the plane, identified two of the men in the plane as John Tilton and WC Young, Mississippi News Now reported.
She did not identify the third man.
Her husband, Roger, was supposed to be onboard but went hunting instead.
Vivian Payne, who lives about six blocks from the crash site, told AP that she heard a loud bang and her house shook.
The Federal Aviation Administration was on the scene investigating the cause of the accident.