ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. — Investigators spent the majority of Friday trying to piece together what happened after a small plane crashed Thursday in St. Lucie County.
Betty Jones, who owns the property near the intersection of Orange Avenue and Sneed Road, said she was outside mowing the lawn Thursday afternoon when she saw the plane crash into her large garage.
"It was like a bomb coming down into the building," she said.
Jones said she's never seen anything like it. But it didn't end there.
"I was yelling for my husband, trying to call 911, and he came out and he yelled, 'Look out! There's still pieces falling,'" she recalled. "And we looked that way and we saw the wheels fall."
Jones said the plane's wings landed next door.
Authorities said one person was killed and another seriously injured when the Piper PA-28-161 went down. She said neighbors ran over to help before help arrived.
Preliminary crash information from the Federal Aviation Administration reveals the person who was killed was the passenger and that the aircraft operator was Aviator College of Aeronautical Science & Technology. The main campus is in Fort Pierce.
Region St Lucie County
Small plane that crashed, killing 1, linked to Fort Pierce flight school
"There's pieces of the airplane all around our house," Jones said.
Now, the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, gathering pieces of the plane, in hopes of learning what happened and why.
A nurse practitioner who lives nearby told WPTV that she heard a loud boom and then ran over to help give medical assistance. She also described seeing pieces of debris falling from the sky.
