Six people are dead after a private jet crashed today into a Maryland home, authorities said.
The small plane crashed in Gaithersburg, about a mile north of the Montgomery County Airpark. The house caught fire and two other homes were damaged as a result, the Montgomery County Fire Department said.
The three people aboard the jet were killed, Chief Steve Lohr said at a news conference this afternoon.
Three other people, residents of where the jet crashed, are also dead, spokesman Peter Piringer said on Twitter.
Byron Valencia, 31, said he heard the crash from his kitchen.
'When I opened my window, I could see smoke over the trees and I heard a small explosion, like a pop,' he told the Associated Press. 'I could see the smoke rising ... it's scary.'
Fire officials were on scene within seven minutes of the 911 call, Lohr said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident and said the plane's data recorders have been recovered.
ABC News aviation analyst John Nance called the crash 'incredibly unusual.'
'These jets are incredibly safe,' he said.
Nance added that lost engines or fuel starvation could have been to blame.
Entities 0 Name: Peter Piringer Count: 1 1 Name: Nance Count: 1 2 Name: Steve Lohr Count: 1 3 Name: Lohr Count: 1 4 Name: National Transportation Safety Board Count: 1 5 Name: Montgomery County Airpark Count: 1 6 Name: ABC News Count: 1 7 Name: John Nance Count: 1 8 Name: Byron Valencia Count: 1 9 Name: Gaithersburg Count: 1 10 Name: Maryland Count: 1 11 Name: Montgomery County Fire Department Count: 1 12 Name: Associated Press Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1wqz8w9 Title: Plane crash sets 3 houses on fire Description: Watch WUSA live video WUSA-TV, Washington GAITHERSBURG, Md. - A small plane crashed into a house Monday in suburban Washington, igniting it and two single-family homes around it, authorities said. The area is less than a mile from Montgomery County Airpark, an airport for private planes about 20 miles north of the nation's capital.
