A small plane crashed into a home in Santa Fe, N.M., on Tuesday morning, setting the house on fire and killing the pilot, authorities said.
The residence was unoccupied, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported. The pilot was the only person on board the twin-engine Cessna.
The aircraft departed from Santa Fe Regional Airport just 2 miles north of the crash site, according to the Albuquerque Journal. The pilot reported left engine trouble almost immediately.
The pilot has not been publicly identified. The plane’s scheduled flight path went from Santa Fe’s main airport to Santa Monica, Calif., according to investigators.
New Mexico State Police and Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputies responded to the crash site shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday. Roads in the area were shut down as authorities attempted to put out the blazing fire and investigate the scene.
A woman who witnessed the disaster told the Albuquerque Journal that she thought the plane was flying east and turning around before she saw it plummet to the earth.
“There was this huge, massive black smoke,” Nathalie Waldman told the paper.
The destroyed home’s address was 12 Agua del Oro, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported. It sat just steps from Interstate 25.
“Thankfully no one was inside,” state police spokesman Wilson Silver told the Journal.
