3 siblings killed in small plane crash near Houston airport, police say
HOUSTON -- Three siblings were killed Thursday afternoon in a small plane crash near Hobby Airport.
A National Transportation Safety Board spokesman said the plane crashed at 1:12 p.m. into a vehicle parked outside an Ace Hardware store in the 7800 block of Telephone. No one was inside the parked car, but all three victims -- two brothers and a sister -- died immediately.
The spokesman said the Cirrus SR-20 plane, a fixed-wing single-engine aircraft, was en route to Hobby Airport. They were trying to land on Runway 3 but they were too high, so the air traffic controller told them to go around the towers and try again. A second attempt was made but yielded the same results. The spokesman said the plane nose-dived into the ground during the third try.
A family friend tells ABC7 sister station KTRK-TV the siblings are from a well-known family in the Moore, Oklahoma area. KTRK-TV is not yet reporting their names because family members are still being notified.
The family friend said they were in Houston to visit their father, a patient at the MD Anderson Cancer Center.
The sister was piloting the plane. She managed to miss a propane tank just a feet away from the crash site.
HFD spokesman Ruy Lozano said there was no Hazmat spill or fire as a result of the crash.
The city of Houston issued an alert asking drivers to avoid several streets in the area.
The National Transportation Safety Board plans to return to the crash site Friday to clean up. The aircraft manufacturer and engine manufacturer will be helping the agency investigate the crash.
