Couple Killed in Rosemead Plane Crash : Aircraft: The Piper Cherokee clipped a house and plowed into a wall. Debris spilled onto the San Bernardino Freeway, creating a three-hour traffic jam.

A Las Vegas couple died Tuesday morning when their light plane fell from the sky, clipped the roof of a house, caromed off two parked cars and crashed into a sound wall beside the San Bernardino Freeway in Rosemead.

Debris from the single-engine Piper Cherokee spilled over the wall and onto the eastbound lanes of the freeway, forcing the closure of one lane and creating a traffic jam that snarled morning commuter traffic for more than three hours.

The crash occurred at 6:05 a.m. Federal Aviation Administration officials said the plane had taken off about five minutes earlier from El Monte Airport, about 1 1/2 miles from the 8600 block of Ramona Boulevard, where the plane came down.

FAA officials said they believe the couple, who were not immediately identified, were heading for their home in Las Vegas. Officials said the 65-year-old man had called an FAA flight service center Monday to get a weather forecast for Tuesday morning between El Monte and Las Vegas.

It was foggy and skies were overcast in El Monte on Tuesday morning, marginal conditions for visual navigation. Whether the pilot was licensed for instrument flight was not immediately determined.

Investigators from the federal National Transportation Safety Board said there was no immediate indication as to why the plane crashed. Most witnesses were asleep when it came down and did not recall whether they heard the sound of the plane’s engine before the impact.

John Sandoval, who lives next door to the house that was hit, said he was awakened by the sound of the impact.

“I thought it was a car crash,” he said. “I looked out the door and all I could see was a pile of twisted metal. It was still pretty dark, and I didn’t even realize there was a plane in there.”

Sandoval said he called 911 and ran to the wreckage to see if he could help.

“It was no use,” he said. “It was clear that there were no survivors.” The plane apparently took off to the south from the airport, then made a looping turn to the right. It was heading north when it dropped from the sky, glanced off the roof of the house, gouged a hole in the front lawn, bounced off two cars parked on Ramona Boulevard and slammed into the wall on the south side of the freeway.

The house sustained relatively little damage. But the plane and one of the cars were left in a mangled heap beside the wall.