AKRON, Ohio — An investigation began Friday into what caused a small plane to crash into a house in northeast Ohio and explode into flames, killing both pilots aboard.
The National Transportation Safety Board was leading the review in Akron, alongside the Federal Aviation Administration and Ohio State Highway Patrol, officials said.
The white and blue Piper PA-28-180, commonly known as the Cherokee, took off from Akron Fulton Airport for a training flight at around 2 p.m. on Thursday, according to Aaron McCarter, an NTSB aviation accident investigator.
The two people on board — a certified flight instructor and the aircraft's pilot-owner — completed a number of standard training maneuvers in the area before making what appeared to be two different attempts to land at the airport. On the second approach, McCarter said, “something upset the aircraft” and it spiraled out of the sky from about 1,000 feet (305 meters), striking a road and then crashing into the house and catching fire.
Dark black smoke could be seen towering into the air near the crash, which was first reported by witnesses at the nearby Firestone Country Club, according to 911 calls provided by Akron police.
McCarter said that witness testimony and doorbell camera footage of the descent and crash will be used as evidence as investigators try to determine what happened. Thursday's high winds also will be considered. He said that Piper Aircraft is assisting with the review.
Three people were in the house at the time of impact — a father and two children, he said, and all managed to escape unharmed.
“It is incredible," McCarter said. "And they are blessed to have made it out of that house, considering the catastrophic nature of the accident.”
That family's home is still not habitable, as the aircraft was being removed from the site Friday to be taken back to the airport for evaluation. A second house also had to be evacuated due to the fire, according to the Akron Fire Department.
The Summit County Medical Examiner’s office said Friday that authorities had yet to identify the bodies of the two people who were killed or to notify their families.
The nearby American Winds College of Aeronautics alerted staff, students and families on Facebook late Wednesday that all of its airplanes were safe. Denise Hobart, of the North East Ohio Pilots Association, said on behalf of the school that they were praying for the pilot, anyone on board and their families.