PALOS HILLS, Ill. — Authorities say three people have died aboard a small plane that crashed on the only empty lot in a Chicago suburb of single-family homes.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford says the twin-engine Beechcraft Baron crashed in Palos Hills around 10:40 p.m. Sunday, shortly after takeoff from Chicago Midway Airport for Lawrence, Kansas.
“There’s only one empty lot in the whole neighborhood and that’s where the plane came down,” Palos Hills Deputy Police Chief James Boie told The Associated Press by telephone early Monday. “It did not hit any houses.”
He says residents heard the plane sputtering and “it came down right away.” No one on the ground was hurt.
He says he had no immediate identification of the victims, adding a medical examiner was still at the site Monday.