SOUTH LAKE TAHOE - A twin-engine Piper Malibu plane carrying two men and two women crashed into the trees of a South Lake Tahoe residential area Friday afternoon, killing all on board.
The small plane departed from the South Lake Tahoe Airport at 3:45 p.m. and flew one-half mile southeast of the airport before it crashed three minutes later, according to the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office.
The plane caught fire on impact.
Federal Aviation Administration officials did not have information Friday on the plane's flight pattern or what caused the crash.
Airport officials did not release the names of the victims but said one of the men was a "well-known and well-liked" South Shore resident.
FAA and National Transportation Safety Board officials arrived on the scene early Friday evening to examine the wreckage and to remove the charred bodies.
The plane crashed into the back yard of a house on Acoma Circle just off Pioneer Trail, missing surrounding homes just yards away. No one was in the house at the time of the crash.
Neighbors said they heard and felt the crash before the airport sounded an alarm.
"I heard it explode," said neighbor Amy McCormick. "It shook my whole house. I heard the siren go off at the airport, so I walked up here."
Assistant Airport Manager Janis Brand said Allegiant Air and charter planes were held on the tarmac for an hour while the airport's fire crew responded to the crash.
Brand said the airport has not had a crash since 1994, when four people were killed.
