Las Vegas: An experimental aircraft crashed into a house and exploded shortly after takeoff, killing the pilot and two people inside the home, authorities said.
The pilot of the home-built plane radioed that he was in trouble shortly after taking off from the North Las Vegas Airport yesterday, said Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman in Hawthorne, California.
A review of tower audio tapes showed the pilot told air controllers that he was going down, Gregor said.
Gregor said the plane couldn t gain altitude.
Firefighters quickly doused an intense fire in the single-family home in a neighborhood southeast of a main runway at the airport.
The pilot and one resident of the house died in the crash, and another person in the house died after being taken to University Medical Center in Las Vegas, said a deputy fire chief, Kevin Brame.
The names of the dead were not immediately released.
Gregor characterized the rear-propeller Velocity 173 RG aircraft as "experimental," and said it can be built from a kit. FAA records showed the aircraft was certified for flight in 2002,he said. North Las Vegas Airport is the second-busiest airport in Nevada after McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, according to the airport s Web site. It s a busy hub for small planes and jets, and serves as a base for sightseeing flights to the Grand Canyon and other attractions.
