Three people were killed when a small plane crashed near Hobby Airport Thursday afternoon. It's a miracle no one on the ground was hurt, investigators say.
The Cirrus single-engine SR-20 crashed in the parking lot of an Ace Hardware Store just after 1 p.m. It narrowly missed the store full of people.
The plane went down a few yards from a large propane tank but there was no fire, according to HFD. It also missed power lines in the area.
"Yes, that's remarkable," said NTSB investigator Tom Lathson.
Lathson said the pilot was "too high" on her first two attempts to land and was told to "go around."
In a recording from the Air Traffic Control tower just before the crash, a controller is heard telling the pilot, "Ma'am, ma'am, straighten up! Straighten up!"
"After executing a go-around maneuver, the aircraft was seen to descend suddenly nose-first into the parking lot," Lathson said.
The plane apparently stalled before it nosedived, according to Lathson.
Relatives told KWTV in Oklahoma City that Tony Gray, his wife Dana and brother Jerry were on the plane. Dana Gray was piloting the plane. She got her pilot's license in 2014.
Relatives say they were flying to Houston to see Tony and Jerry Gray's father, who is being treated at M.D. Anderson.
A witness said the plane just "fell right out of the sky and plummeted to the ground."
Kendrick Mickens also saw the crash happen.
"I feel sorrow, I have children, I have a family," Mickens said. "And that family, I pray the best for them. I was thinking all of those things that you think when you get that close to death, because that was pretty close."
An employee inside the store said it sounded like a "loud boom" when the plane hit. She said the car that was crushed by the plane belonged to a store employee.
It happened on Telephone Road near Airport, northwest of the airport.
The plane is registered in Moore, Oklahoma, and was headed from Norman, Oklahoma, to Hobby.
Could have sworn I just saw a plane go down before it got to hobby airport.maybe I'm trippin.hope I am.
— clifton glaze jr (@cliffdacabby) June 9, 2016