Jet crashes into residential area; 9 dead

Nine people, including a pilot and co-pilot, were killed when a private jet crashed in an Akron, Ohio neighborhood on Tuesday.

The Hawker 25 was on approach to Akron Fulton Airport when it crashed, an FAA spokesman said.

Ohio State Highway Patrol Lt. Bill Haymaker said the jet clipped a utility wire on the way down Tuesday afternoon and crashed into the building, which was destroyed by a subsequent fire. The plane then hit an embankment beyond the building, causing a nearby house to also burn.

The plane burst into flames and disintegrated after impact.

Haymaker said no one was at home in the building that was destroyed and there are no known injuries on the ground.

Augusto Lewkowicz, the owner and operator of the plane, told the Akron Beacon Journal he would not release the names of the seven passengers or two crew members only hours after the crash.

The mid-size corporate jet was on the second leg of a charter that began Monday, Lewkowicz said, noting that there was no indication prior to the crash that anything was wrong.

“It was a perfectly well-maintained aircraft with no squawks,” he said, adding that there was no chatter from the pilots to indicate anything was out of the ordinary.

Employees at a nearby construction company said they heard a low-flying plane, then what sounded like a car hitting a telephone pole.

Photo Caption: Nine people were killed when a small business jet crashed into two residential buildings. (AP)