3 feared dead after plane crashes into Conn. homes

EAST HAVEN, Conn. A small plane crashed in a working-class neighborhood near an airport Friday and engulfed two houses in flames, leaving the pilot and two children on the ground missing and feared dead.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said crews working at the scene have seen two bodies but that neither has been recovered.

The multi-engine, propeller-driven plane struck two small homes a few blocks from Tweed New Haven Airport, and firefighters found both homes engulfed in flames when they arrived.

The missing include the one person on the plane and two children in one of the houses, ages 1 and 13, East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo said.

"We are doing everything we possibly can for the mom who is here with her priest and family," Maturo said.

East Haven Fire Chief Douglas Jackson said no bodies had been recovered and he presumed "there is going to be a very bad outcome."

A firefighter surveys the scene of a small plane crash Friday, Aug. 9, 2013, in East Haven, Conn.

/ AP Photo/Fred Beckham

The plane, a Rockwell International Turbo Commander 690B, flew out of Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and crashed at 11:25 a.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Tweed's airport manager, Lori Hoffman-Soares, said the pilot had been in communication with air traffic control and did not issue any distress calls.

"All we know is that it missed the approach and continued on. There were no distress calls as far as we know," she said.

A neighbor, David Esposito, said he heard a loud noise and then a thump. "No engine noise, nothing," he said.

"A woman was screaming her kids were in there," he said.

Esposito said he ran into the upstairs of the house, where the woman believed her children were, but they could not find them. They returned downstairs to search, but he dragged the woman out when the flames became too strong.

In images posted on Twitter, flames and smoke could be seen shooting out from between the homes.

Maturo offered sympathy to the family.

"It's total devastation in the back of the home," he said.

A small plane approaching a Connecticut airport crashed into a suburban neighborhood, Aug. 9, 2013.

/ Twitter/CBS New York