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A JET burst into flames just minutes after takeoff, killing all six people on board in a fiery crash caught in chilling 911 calls.
The plane went down behind a home in a wooded area shortly after 7 am on Sunday.
The deadly crash happened in Howland Township, near the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Ohio.
Authorities said the twin-engine Cessna 441 was headed for Bozeman, Montana, a popular Rocky Mountain destination known for its outdoor tourism and proximity to Yellowstone National Park.
“There was a big bang. I don’t know what it was,” one 911 caller told dispatchers after witnessing the horrific scene.
Another resident said he was outside having coffee when he heard an “odd” – sounding plane overhead, followed by a “huge amount of smoke.”
“I heard a loud crash, a horrible crash. I could hear trees cracking, heavy impact,” said neighbor Joe Nuskievicz told CBS local affiliate WKBN.
“I knew that it crashed, but I couldn’t see it. I told my wife we need to go drive down the road real quick.
“I pulled up to the driveway of a house and ran to the back of the yard at the very edge of the yard. It was probably 75 yards from where I was standing.”
The aircraft crashed just two miles from the end of the airport’s runway and was fully engulfed in flames when emergency crews arrived.
“There were no survivors,” Western Reserve Port Authority executive director Anthony Trevena confirmed at a news conference.
Trumbull County Coroner identified the victims as 68-year-old Veronica Weller; her husband, James Weller, 67; their son, John Weller, 36; and his wife, Maria Weller, 34.
The pilot was 63-year-old Joseph Maxin.
His co-pilot was identified as 55-year-old Timothy Blake.
“This is a very tight-knit community,” Trevena said.
“We are all heartbroken and are deeply saddened and offer our deepest, most sincere condolences to those affected.”
US on edge over ‘cluster’ of plane crashes
A series of devastating plane crashes, including the mid-air collision above DC that killed 67, has left Americans terrified of traveling by air.
However, aviation expert and attorney Jason Matzus told The U.S. Sun the crashes can be attributed to “random clustering.”
“While these events are tragic, the likely explanation is simply ‘random clustering,’ which occurs when multiple crashes occur over a short period, warping our general perception and causing us to think that there is an increasing trend in plane crashes,” Matzus said.
“When in reality these crashes, despite being so close together, are merely coincidental and not caused by a systemic safety issue.”
The short period Matzus referred to was just a matter of three weeks. The aviation mishaps included:
January 29 – A military helicopter and American Airlines plane collided at the Washington DC airport, killing 67 people
January 31 – An air ambulance carrying a 6-year-old girl and her mom crashed on a street in Philadelphia, killing seven people in total
February 5 – A Japan Airlines flight hit a parked Delta plane at Seattle SeaTac Airport and no one was injured
February 6 – A small commuter plane on its way to Nome, Alaska, crashed killing all 10 people on board
February 10 – Motley Crue singer Vince Neil’s private jet collided with another plane, killing the pilot and injuring four others
February 17 – A Delta plane crashed on the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport, miraculously killing no one but injuring 21
February 19 – Two planes collided at Marana Airport in Arizona, killing two people
February 24 – Smoke filled a Delta Airlines flight cabin forcing passengers to evacuate by a slide after making an emergency landing in Atlanta
March 9 – A Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft crashed into a retirement village parking lot in Manheim, Pennsylvania
March 13 – An American Airlines jet engine erupted into flames at the Denver airport, forcing passengers to escape onto the plane’s wing
Michael Hillman, president of JETS FBO Network, said the two crew members were highly experienced.
“These were the best of the best… I can’t say enough about them, give anything to rewind the day, take them to breakfast instead,” Hillman told Associated Press.
The Youngstown Air Reserve Station assisted in putting out the flames, along with multiple other agencies, including the EPA, Highway Patrol, and HAZMAT teams.
“Our crews were met with difficult access to the plane. It landed in a heavily wooded area,” Howland Fire Chief Ray Pace told WKBN.
“The plane was on fire back in the woods,” Pace said, adding that the local drone team also assisted.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are leading the investigation into what caused the crash.
Officials said it’s still unclear why the plane went down just seven minutes after takeoff.
Flight data showed the aircraft had taken off normally before suddenly disappearing from radar.
King Graves Road, where the crash occurred, was shut down for hours and has since reopened.
