MESA, Ariz. - Two people are dead after a plane crash near Falcon Field in east Mesa.
Police told 12 News the aircraft crashed on takeoff and burned.
The bodies of two people were found among the wreckage. The cause is under investigation.
The plane came to rest just after 6:30 p.m. Tuesday evening in the middle of Greenfield Road between McDowell and McKellips roads.
“The nose of the aircraft is facing to the west,” said Detective Steve Berry of the Mesa Police Department.
Mesa police received a call reporting the plane took off in tandem with another plane, but didn’t get far before crashing. Police believe the plane that went down is a single-engine AT-6, which is an older military-style trainer plane.
“For some reason that is unknown at this point, [the pilot] had difficulties -- mechanical or otherwise,” said Berry. “and kind of veered to the right before going down and crashing on the roadway.”
Mesa Police say once it hit the ground, the plane caught on fire and burned from there.
Emergency crews from the Mesa Fire and Medical station onsite responded.
“Crews make a rapid approach to the aircraft to do a quick triage and identify any savable victims,” said Captain Ken Hall of Mesa Fire and Medical. “Unfortunately in this incident, there were two victims in there that could not be saved.”
Investigators are still trying to figure out who is involved and what caused the deadly outcome.
“A tragic situation,” said Berry. “We’re right in the middle of a major roadway here in Mesa and certainly, never to minimize the tragedy, but obviously you could imagine if this had, say, hit another carload of people or bus or something of that nature. It’s an unfortunate situation for everyone involved.”
Detective Berry says so far there are no indications weather was a factor in the crash.
It was fairly windy in east Mesa late Tuesday evening, but Berry says it was pretty clear in the area when the crash happened.
Mesa Fire and police are still on scene maintaining the initial part of the investigation until the FAA and NTSB take over later Tuesday night or Wednesday.