A pilot is dead after a plane crashed into a home near the Cape Fear River in North Carolina on Sunday afternoon, local officials said.
Southport Fire Department Chief Charles Drew said crews were dispatched to an aircraft that crashed into a home in Brunswick County about 30 miles south of Wilmington.
The plane took off from the Cape Fear Regional Jetport earlier in the day, the airport’s director, Howie Franklin, said, and the plane’s pilot was killed in the crash.
No other injuries were reported.
According to Franklin, the plane took off and, about five minutes into the flight, the pilot radioed and said he wanted to turn around and return to the airport.
“He didn’t make it,” Franklin said.
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Three inside home escape without injuries
The plane’s make and model was not immediately known.
Upon firefighters arrival, Drew said, the plane was fully engulfed in flames and the exterior of the structure was also on fire. The fire, the chief said, was contained within 15 minutes.
Three people in the home were able to escape without injuries, Drew said.
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The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are both investigating the crash.
“We have 150 takeoffs and landings a day, and this is the first fatality we’ve had in the 30 years since I’ve been here,” Franklin said.
