1 killed when plane crashes in Ala. neighborhood

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A small plane crashed into a neighborhood Wednesday evening, killing one person aboard, but no one on the ground was injured, authorities said.

The Beech BE-58 went down while it was approaching a runway at the Birmingham International Airport, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen. It hit a power line and caught fire, but did not hit any houses, said Sgt. Johnny Williams, a spokesman with the Birmingham Police Department.

The wreckage was burned badly enough to make it difficult to recover the remains, Williams said. Few houses were in the neighborhood because it is so close to the airport, he said.

Authorities have not yet determined why it crashed, Bergen said.

Firefighters and police officers swarmed the scene.

Witness Phyllis Davis told the Birmingham News she heard a plane sputtering and moments later heard a crash and several loud booms that "shook the whole house."

Federal records list the plane's owners as Sutter's Mill Gold & Jewelry and Pee Wee's Pawn. Neither could immediately be reached late Wednesday.