AUSTIN, Texas — One person was killed Wednesday when a small plane that had taken off in Dallas crashed near Austin's main airport.
Emergency officials said a man was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to FlightAware, the aircraft had been scheduled to arrive at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at 1:35 p.m. It was traveling from Dallas Executive Airport. The plane was last registered to a Dallas man, but the pilot's identity has not been released.
Jim Halbrook, a spokesperson for ABIA, said the pilot of the plane did not communicate any problems to the airport before the crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane was a twin-engine Piper Aerostar plane that crashed on approach to ABIA. Halbrook said it appears the pilot planned to land on ABIA's east runway. The plane crashed on city property just north of the airport.
According to Airliners.net, Piper Aerostar planes can seat up to six people.
When firefighters arrived at the scene of the crash, they found the plane mostly burned. At first, emergency crews could only search about 80 percent of the plane's hull because other areas were too dangerous or charred to access. They later confirmed that only one person was on board.
Employees at Del Valle Independent School District working nearby heard the plane crash, and one of them called 911.
"[It] sounded like a pop kind of, 'Did you hear that?' Like a pop or explosion or something," said Del Valle ISD employee Andrew Romero. "It must have been going through the trees. That's what I thought when we started talking about it."
Austin-Travis County EMS officials posted about the crash on Twitter just before 2 p.m. Wednesday.The crash sparked a three-acre fire, which crews were able to get under control.
According to ABIA, all runways remained open after the crash and all flights were running on time.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
