Editor’s note: This corrects Ray Pace and Mike Hillman’s titles.
HOWLAND TWP., Ohio (WKBN) – There were no survivors in a plane crash behind a house in Howland on Sunday morning, according to local authorities.
The incident took place at approximately 7 a.m. in the area between Spring Run Road and King Graves Road NE, which is situated just two miles from the runway’s end at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna. The aircraft was transporting two crew members and four passengers.
The identities of the crash victims have not yet been released.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the plane was a Cessna 441 — a small twin-engine plane.
At a press conference held on Sunday at 5 p.m. at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, representatives from the Western Reserve Port Authority, the Howland Fire Department, and the Howland Police Department stated that data from a flight tracker indicated the plane was en route to Bozeman, Montana, and crashed about seven minutes following its departure.
“Our teams, in conjunction with Youngstown Air Reserve Station, encountered challenging conditions reaching the aircraft. It had come down in a densely wooded area,” reported Howland Fire Chief Ray Pace.
Pace said a 911 caller reported hearing a large explosion behind her home and seeing flames.
“The Youngstown Air Reserve Station did assist us in extinguishing the plane that was on fire back in the woods. We have had multiple other agencies assist us, such as Trumbull County EMA, along with the drone team,” Pace said.
Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the coroner’s office also responded. Trumbull County HAZMAT was also on scene to handle the fuel from the plane.
“It has been seamless cooperation amongst all the individual entities to handle their portion,” Pace said.
At this point, it’s unclear what caused the crash. The NTSB is taking the lead on the investigation and is set to arrive at the crash site Sunday evening. Investigators have also been in touch with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
King Graves Road NE has since reopened, but officials are asking people to avoid the area.
Officials at the press conference said the crash was devastating, especially to the aviation community.
“I can’t think of better people, and so our community is at a great loss, and there were really wonderful people. It’s a very tight-knit community. So, all those in the aviation community have reached out, and these are really important people to us,” Anthony Travena, executive director of the WRPA.
“These were the best of the best in terms of folks here at the field, as well as the pilots, and I can’t say enough about them — give anything to rewind the day, take them to breakfast instead,” said Mike Hillman, President of JETS Fix Based Operators.
Everyone who spoke at the conference extended their condolences to the families of those who were aboard the aircraft.
“We are all heartbroken and are deeply saddened and offer our deepest, most sincere condolences to those affected by today’s tragedy,” Travena said.
Seeing a plane go down so close to a residential area was alarming for people who live nearby.
First News has obtained the 911 calls from the crash. Many people living in the area reported seeing a lot of smoke and hearing a plane making an odd noise right before it crashed.
Caller: I was just sitting outside having coffee. I heard a plane that sounded odd. Okay, now I am seeing a huge amount of smoke.
Dispatcher: Is it still burning?
Caller: Oh yeah. Yeah, it’s fully engulfed. Uh, guys? Yeah. One — geez oh man — one, like, one very pretty large tree, it split.
Joe Nuskievicz is a neighbor who heard the crash from his porch in Howland Township.
“I noticed the sound of an airplane in the distance that the engine didn’t sound right. It sounded very underpowered — just like it didn’t sound like it had enough power to be able to really go, and I noticed that I didn’t see it. It was below the tree lines,” Nuskievicz said.
He listened to the noise for 15 seconds before an even more alarming sound took its place.
“I heard a loud crash, a horrible crash. I could hear trees cracking, you know, heavy impact, and I knew that it crashed, but I couldn’t see it. I told my wife we need to go drive down the road real quick to see if it was a crash and, if so, see if we can find any survivors,” Nuskievicz said.
They drove north before finding a large cloud of smoke near King Graves Road.
“I was looking behind houses, and I could see a very large fire and I knew that was the plane,” Nuskievicz said.
He says he immediately called 911 and was told the crash had just been called in by airport operators. He then pulled up to a nearby house to get a closer look.
“I pulled up to the driveway of a house and ran to the back of the yard at the very edge of the yard. I was standing at the woods line — it was probably, I’d say, 75 yards from where I was standing,” Nuskievicz said.
From there, Nuskievicz says he yelled out toward the crash site, seeing if he would get a response. That’s when first responders arrived on scene.
“It was scary. First, my heart just hurt, you know. Knowing that there probably was not going to be any survivors, and you know when you live around an airport, you always have a concern. We have planes coming in daily, and some of them are barely clearing the treetops here,” Nuskievicz said.
First News will continue to update this story as we learn more information.
Andrew Peterson, Kristy Regula and Abigail Cloutier contributed to this report.
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