2 dead after plane crashes into townhouse complex in Hawthorne

Two people were killed Friday after a small plane they were in crashed into a town house in the Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne, authorities said.

A Los Angeles County fire dispatcher said nobody on the ground was hurt.

The plane appeared to have smashed into the front of an attached, two-story townhouse in a complex and sparked a fire. The burned wreckage of the plane was in the patio area.

Antwahn Nance told KNBC-TV he heard the engine sputtering as the plane flew at a low altitude. He said he rushed to the town house when he heard the crash, but when he got closer the plane was engulfed in flames.

A firefighter walks among debris after the Hawthorne crash.

(Allen Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

“Everybody was outside their apartments and tried to offer assistance, but there was nothing anybody could do. It was too hot,” Nance said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer says two people were aboard the Grumman American AA-1B.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of the crash.

The area is just west of Hawthorne Municipal Airport.

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UPDATES:

11:50 p.m.: Adds details.

This article was first posted at 6:11 p.m.