Plane Crashes Into Building Near Phoenix's Deer Valley Airport

(Aug. 4) -- A small plane crashed into a warehouse and burst into flames near Phoenix's Deer Valley airport early today, killing one person, authorities said.

The single-engine plane, a four-seat Cirrus SR 22, appeared to run into trouble immediately after takeoff, Phoenix police said. The pilot tried to return to the airport but crashed into the warehouse less than a quarter-mile away.

The male pilot, who was killed, was the only person on the plane. No one on the ground was hurt.

The cause of the crash was not known, though police said a witness, who is a pilot, reported that the plane seemed to experience trouble as soon as it took off from the airport and crashed as it tried to return and land.

"He heard a very unusual noise from the engine and heard the engine sputter," said Detective James Holmes, a department spokesman. "What he saw was the pilot attempting, based on his maneuvering, to begin to turn the plane around and land it on the north runway. Unfortunately as he was trying to maneuver, the plane banked to the left and it just went down. There was nowhere for it to go. He had lost control of the aircraft."

Contrary to other reports, Holmes said, there was no indication the pilot was practicing "touch and go" takeoffs and landings.

"We believe he took the plane back and tried to put it down because he had trouble just a soon as he took off," Holmes said.

Investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board were expected to arrive at the scene this afternoon, he said.

Holmes said officials believe they know the identity of the pilot but because the plane is registered to a local company, and not an individual, officers were waiting for formal confirmation before releasing the identity.

"We're not at liberty to release the name of the person who would have been operating the aircraft because we have not verified that it was actually him," Holmes said.

The pilot had been in contact with the tower just moments before crashing, said Lynn Lunsford, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman in Phoenix, but details of that conversation were not immediately known. He said it appeared the pilot lost control of the aircraft as the pilot tried to reach a runway.

Phoenix 3TV said the pilot of its news helicopter saw the plane nose-dive into the building just after 6 a.m. local time The airport serves general aviation and includes an aviation school, it said.

"There was just a horrible black plume of smoke," witness Cindy Cross told CNN. "We knew that it had hit a building and that it was bad because it wasn't a normal fire."

Local television showed images of the burning wreckage and a dark plume of smoke rising into the desert sky. Conditions were clear at the time.