FAA says airplane in deadly north Phoenix crash registered to local firm

FAA: Plane in deadly crash registered to AZ firm

PHOENIX — The Federal Aviation Administration is sending investigators to the scene of a deadly plane crash in north Phoenix.

FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer tells The Associated Press the pilot was killed in the Wednesday morning crash. He was believed to be the only one on board. His name has not been released.

Kenitzer says the plane is a Cirrus S-R 22 single engine aircraft that was on a short final approach when it crashed outside Deer Valley Airport. The plane is registered to a corporation called Magneto Investments of Phoenix. The burned and blackened wreckage came to rest against an industrial building. No one on the ground was injured.

Police spokesman Detective James Holmes says the plane had taken off from the airport shortly before the crash.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix police say one person has been killed after a small plane crashed outside Deer Valley Airport in north Phoenix. The victim was the plane’s pilot.

Phoenix police spokesman Detective James Holmes tells The Associated Press the plane had taken off from Deer Valley Airport around 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Witnesses told police the plane took off to the east, circled around to the south of the airport and was heading north. Holmes says witnesses heard the plane’s engine sputter before it crashed.

Holmes says it appears the plane struck a brick wall and then hit a building northwest of the airport.

Earlier, bright, orange flames and clouds of smoke were pouring from the wreckage before Phoenix fire crews arrived on scene and extinguished the flames.

Holmes says the plane is a bundle of charred and blackened metal.