NTSB officials are expected at the site of small plane crash. Melissa Etezadi reports for Today in LA on Monday July 27, 2015.
A small plane crashed in a California neighborhood on Sunday, exploding in flames within feet of homes and killing the pilot, officials said.
There were no injuries on the ground or damage to nearby homes, Riverside police said.
"The pilot of a single-engine Beechcraft BE35 reported a loss of engine power before crashing in a residential neighborhood about a half-mile east of Riverside Municipal Airport," Federal Aviation Administration officials told NBC4.
The pilot, who was the only person on board, had made a request to land at the airport, but in another transmission said he was not going to make it, police said.
The aircraft crash landed in the 400 block of Adams Street, hit the curb, crashed into a home's chain-link fence and burst into flames, police said.
"(There was) a boom - it actually, literally shook the ground," said witness Christina Barrientos.
Butch Romero, another witness, says he swerved his car to miss the plane as it came down.
"When I jerked it, the plane landed like that and bounced into those people's yard," he said.
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Images from the scene show bystanders attempting to put out the flames with a garden hose.
"You just see this big billow of black smoke and just flames," said neighbor Jessica Aviles. "That man (the pilot) had the good intentions at the very final moments. He knew something was wrong and he tried to divert it as much as he could without any other life except his own."
An Instagram user posted video of the fiery plane crash that came within feet of a home.
A video posted by La_bestia (@1slowram_iest) on Jul 26, 2015 at 5:19pm PDT
The pilot's name was not released.
The FAA and NTSB was investigating the crash.
NBC4's John Cádiz Klemack contributed to this report.
