NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. -Three people were killed when a small airplane crashed into a North Las Vegas home early Friday morning, police say.
They received the call at around 6:30 a.m. While they cannot see the plane at this time, police said the crash caused a blaze that engulfed the home at 2313 Langdon Way. Firefighters have since knocked down the fire.According to preliminary reports, the pilot and one person in the house were killed, said Deputy North Las Vegas Fire Chief Kevin Brame. A third person, who was a resident in the house, was taken to University Medical Center in critical condition, where they later died, North Las Vegas police said.The airplane has been identified as a rear-propeller Velocity 173 RG and is considered an “experimental aircraft,” which is usually produced by someone from a kit, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor.
It was certified in 2002 and is owned by a Las Vegas resident, but authorities could not identify the pilot.
At 6:28 a.m., the pilot radioed to the North Las Vegas Airport, saying he wasn’t gaining altitude and was going to crash, officials said.
Lake Mead Boulevard has been reopened, but the neighborhood where the crash occured is still closed to through traffic.This is not the first incident of this type in North Las Vegas. In November 2006, there were two plane crashes in just three days. Then from May 2001 to May 2006, there were 29 flight related accidents at or near the airport, 21 of which were blamed on pilot error, while four were considered mechanical problems.There was an emergency landing in the middle of a busy intersection in April 2007 in which no one was injured.North Las Vegas Airport is the second-busiest airport in Nevada, averaging about 650 flights a day.Last year, the North Las Vegas Airport was listed as the most dangerous airport in the U.S. by Forbes.com. Since 2001, Forbes.com said the airport has had 663 wrecks, a statistic Clark County aviation officials have been attempting to dispute.
West Coast 911 firefighting news source – Fox 5 News Las Vegas
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