Saturday’s crash of a twin-engine Cessna 421C into a row of Fairview homes killed three people, Gresham Fire Chief Scott Lewis confirmed Sunday.
The pilot, a single passenger and a person in one of the homes on Northeast Heartwood Circle died, Lewis said in a Facebook post. Authorities have not released their names.
The crash happened around 10:20 a.m. and started a fire that spread to four townhouses.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, the federal agency announced on social media Saturday.
Air traffic recordings collected by LiveATC.net show that controllers at the nearby Troutdale Airport were communicating with a plane that reported an issue shortly before the crash, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported Saturday.
“Having some handling problems,” a pilot says to a controller in the recording.
A little over a minute later, a person can be heard saying, “That aircraft went down.”
Three minutes later the recording captured another voice: “I’ve just got an airplane crash.”
— Beth Slovic is a deputy editor on the public safety and breaking news team. Reach her at 503-221-8551 or [email protected].
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