JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP - Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration are still trying to determine what caused a single-engine propeller plane to crash near a residential area in Fayette County early Thursday evening, killing both people aboard.
The plane, traveling from North Andover, Mass., crashed about 7 p.m. in Jefferson Township, said Jim Peters, a spokesman for the FAA's eastern region.
"We don't know where the plane was heading at this time," Peters said.
One body has been located and authorities were searching for the second body this morning, Peters said.
Authorities were not releasing the identities of the dead, pending notification of relatives.
"We heard a noise coming from behind us, so we look up in the air and I saw the plane, evidently it stalled, and we see the plane go straight into a nose dive, twisting and that was it," said Lance Vivio, who resides near the crash scene.
Another eye witness, Scott Alberts, said he heard a loud boom and then saw the right wing come off before the plane went down.
Alberts drove up Laureldale Road and found a section of the plane in a field. He said the plane was "just smashed metal."
Alberts said he also saw a man still strapped inside the plane and badly injured.
The plane's registered owner is the Raytheon Employees Flying Club. It is a Beech C24R fixed-wing, single-engine prop built in 1977.
The plane left Lawrence Municipal Airport in North Andover, and Peters had no information about where it was heading at the time it crashed.
The flying club has no official connection with Raytheon, the Lexington, Mass.-based defense contractor, said Ernie Hiscox, the club's president.
However, club members are either Raytheon employees, or their friends and relatives. The club has 40 to 50 members, he said.
Hiscox, who could not provide details on the crash, said the club had not had an accident in its 30-year history.
The plane is the largest of the club's fleet of four planes.
The National Transportation Safety Board will handle the investigation, Peters said.
State police in Belle Vernon have been on the scene and are in charge of ground security. Local firefighters also responded to the scene.
The Associated Press and Tribune-Review reporter Joe Napsha contributed to this story.
