JACKSON, Miss. – A small plane en route to an FAA safety conference crashed into a house in a modest Jackson neighborhood late Tuesday, killing all three pilots aboard, authorities said. A resident of the home escaped with minor injuries.
The Piper PA-32 single-engine plane had just taken off from the Hawkins Field Airport when it began to falter. A police officer who saw the plane go down said it was sputtering as if out of fuel, and the plane’s owner said it struck several trees as it went down.
Large flames and black smoke rose about 50 feet from the house that was hit, according to witnesses in the neighborhood of single-family homes surrounded by big magnolia and oak trees.
A deputy fire chief told WJTV-TV 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.
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