A plane that crashed near Austin, killing all five people onboard, was seen flying “erratically” before the tragic crash.
The aircraft, a Cessna 421C, went down around 11 pm on Thursday in Wimberley, a city located about 40 miles (65 kilometres) southwest of Austin, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The pilot and four passengers on board were killed after the plane crashed into trees and caught fire, Sergeant Billy Ray told reporters.
The names of the victims have not yet been released.
An unidentified woman was seen wiping her eyes and fanning her face behind yellow police tape near the crash site on Friday afternoon, consoled by a man.
Sergeant Ray deferred most press inquiries to federal authorities, who will be leading the investigation.
The aircraft had departed from Amarillo, Texas, roughly two hours earlier and was en route to New Braunfels National Airport, according to flight history.
Aerial photographs, published by the Austin American-Statesman, depicted the aircraft as completely destroyed in a wooded area.
Resident Stacey Rohr recounted being in bed when she heard a crash and “felt everything vibrate.”
“It was so close, I felt like it was the back of my place up in flames,” she said.
Another local, Cecil Keith, described hearing what sounded like an engine backfiring – “pow, pow, pow” – as the plane passed over his home moments before impact.
“Something was definitely wrong,” he told local broadcaster KEYE-TV.
A pilot told Air Traffic Control that he and the Cessna pilot were flying there together, according to ATC audio.
“I haven’t heard anything from him,” the pilot could be heard saying.
A controller responded: “He started to move erratically and now his track is disappeared from the scope. So we want to make sure everything’s all right with him.”
A pilot in the vicinity confirmed the troubled aircraft’s emergency locator device had emitted a distress signal, prompting the controller to call 911.
Weather conditions in the New Braunfels area were mostly cloudy shortly before the crash, with a thunderstorm developing two hours later, the National Weather Service reported.
Wimberley, home to approximately 3,000 residents, and New Braunfels, with a population of around 116,000, are popular tourist destinations within the Texas Hill Country, attracting hikers to its woody, rolling hills and visitors for tubing on its rivers.
