DIAMOND POINT – One person died in a plane crash near a Lupine Drive home close to the Diamond Point Airstrip, a private airport in eastern Clallam County, at about 1:40 p.m. on Sunday.
The pilot was not identified because the plane was destroyed and the family of the man thought to be the pilot had not been contacted to make a positive identification late Sunday afternoon, Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict said Sunday evening.
“We have a feeling we know who it is, but there is no positive ID yet,” Benedict said.
Once the plane is positively identified, investigators will have to confirm whether the owner was flying it, it had been loaned out or any other circumstances before confirming an identification.
The pilot of the single-engine plane attempted a landing at the airstrip, pulled back up, and clipped some trees before crashing in between two houses about a block away near Lupine Drive and bursting into flames, Clallam County Sheriff’s Deputy Josh Ley said.
Eyewitnesses told Ley, who was on scene, that the plane teetered near the runway before pulling up off of the landing strip, which runs between two rows of houses.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of the crash.
“The plane was burned well beyond recognition,” said Mike Fergus, public information officer for the FAA.
“We were able to get what we think is the N number, but we are still investigating that.”
The N number could help identify the owner, and subsequently the pilot, he said.
Until investigators arrive from both agencies, the site will be guarded by sheriff’s deputies.
The plane probably flew sideways between the houses, scraping the lawn with one wing and damaging part of the roof of one of the houses before landing upside down in the backyard, investigators on scene said.
“I was in my front room and I heard the motor roaring,” Bill Henke
“It was really loud, so I looked out and heard a loud bang.
“I looked out and saw the plane had landed upside down.”
The plane had landed in his neighbor’s backyard. The neighbors are out of town, he said.
Henke said he saw a small flame and started to go outside to get the hose while his wife called 9-1-1.
By the time he made it downstairs, along with other neighbors rushing to the scene, the plane had burst into flames and had been consumed.
“We had four garden hoses on it and had some of it put out when the fire department got here,” Henke said.
Much of the metal on the plane had melted and parts of the plane lay scattered around the house.
The house roof had minor damage and the fire singed part of the house, but other houses were unscathed.
In addition to putting out some of the fire, the residents managed to contain the fire from spreading after it had singed the balcony of the home.
