2 Die as Plane Crashes Between 4 Homes : Accident: Small craft catches fire after missing surrounding houses in Long Beach with only inches to spare. There are no injuries on the ground and only minor damage.

A twin-engine plane crashed into the back yards of four homes and burst into flames Saturday morning, just minutes after taking off from the nearby Long Beach Municipal Airport.

The pilot and lone passenger were killed instantly, officials said. The Cessna 414, which experienced engine trouble shortly after takeoff about 9 a.m, hit the ground at almost the precise center of four small adjoining yards, missing the surrounding homes by inches.

The fireball that erupted after impact singed the back portions of the houses, but caused only minor damage and injured no one on the ground in the heavily populated area of Long Beach just south of the airport. Neighbors said a puppy that was playing in one of the yards could not be found and was probably killed in the crash.

“It’s just a miracle that the plane went between the houses,” said George Ferrone, 32, who lives nearby. “One would like to think that (the pilot) intentionally tried to put it down somewhere where he didn’t take anybody else with him.”

“It’s amazing the way that plane landed,” said Hank Zavaleta, a spokesman for the Long Beach Fire Department.

Zavaleta said the victims were burned beyond recognition. The coroner’s office said the victims’ identities could not be released until next of kin are notified.

Long Beach firefighters were on the scene seconds after the crash. They had seen the plane, realized that it was having trouble with its left engine and watched as it hit about a block and a half from their firehouse, Zavaleta said.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were investigating the crash Saturday.

Some neighbors thought an earthquake had struck and ducked under kitchen tables. Others ran outside and tried to put out the flames with garden hoses they dragged from their homes.

“One gentleman started jumping the fence,” Ferrone said. “I said just leave it alone. There’s nothing you can do.”

“It felt like an earthquake and it sounded like and explosion,” said Roberta Harting, 14. “It woke me up. There were flames everywhere and I could see all the smoke.”

Jason Burton, 15, said he ran outside when he heard the crash. “You could see the flames over the house and a lady was standing out here screaming and crying. Fire Department people were knocking on windows and doors.”

Neighbors said the woman who was screaming ran out of her house on Argonne Avenue seconds after the plane crashed in her back yard. Smoldering debris filled the yard Saturday afternoon as the woman stood outside with neighbors and looked on.

“They have a little dog. It’s their baby right now,” said one neighbor. “They think the dog is back there and they think the dog is dead. It doesn’t look like the dog could have gotten out.” The woman declined to talk to reporters.

Residents of the area said they sometimes worry about plane crashes and have grown used to the sounds of small planes overhead.

“I heard the engine sputtering and it didn’t sound right,” said Leonard Hernandez, 50. “I’ve been living here since 1956, so I’ve been used to all the planes, and you could tell what sounds right and what doesn’t sound right. You see all the near-misses around here, too.”

Six weeks ago, a single-engine Cessna 210 crashed in Lakewood, just north of the Long Beach airport, killing all three people aboard and injuring four people on the ground. In 1989, two people were critically burned when their small plane crashed shortly after takeoff and was engulfed in flames.

In 1987, one person died when a small plane crashed on the nearby San Diego Freeway as it attempted to land at the airport.