LJWorld.com

CARTERVILLE, Mo — A private plane carrying six people crashed into a garage in a residential neighborhood early Friday, killing everyone aboard but causing no injuries on the ground.

The twin-engine plane had left Lake Charles, La., and was heading for a landing at Joplin Regional Airport when it crashed shortly before 1 a.m., Jasper County Sheriff's Capt. Tony Coleman said.

Debris and remains were scattered over a wide area of the neighborhood of newer, mostly one-story homes.

The dead were identified as the plane's co-owners, Earl Trahan and Jerry Johnson, 55; Johnson's stepdaughters, Johnie Quebodeaux, 21 and Shanna Shields; Shields' husband, William Shields, 29; and the pilot, whose name was withheld pending notification of relatives. Other ages were not available.

All were from the Lake Charles area.

Authorities said Johnson was going to Joplin because his 7-year-old daughter had been injured in an accident while visiting there with her mother.

The pilot had been in touch with controllers at Springfield Regional Airport, about 75 miles east, before the crash. The National Weather Service reported overcast conditions at Joplin around the time the plane went down.

Jasper County Sheriff Bill Pierce said conversations between the pilot and controllers indicated the pilot may not have been able to find the airport.

"We heard he was having trouble getting the lights to come on at an airport. So we don't know if he knew where he was because at the airport the lights were on," Pierce said.

Tapes of that conversation will be reviewed by investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, Coleman said.

Witnesses reported seeing no flames, only smoke, after the crash, and Coleman said investigators would look into the possibility that the plane had run out of fuel.

Authorities cordoned off the neighborhood while awaiting the investigators Friday morning.

The plane sheared the roof and part of the walls off a garage attached to the home where Mike Spry, 49, and his 25-year-old son were sleeping. They were uninjured.

"I just heard a big boom. Like most people, I tried to rationalize it I figured it was a car crash," Spry said. "I just didn't figure a plane would come falling out of the sky."

Neighbor Paul Renfro said he had just gone to bed when the plane crashed.

"I heard what sounded like a plane in a steep dive and then there was a large crashing sound. ... I looked out the front window. It was like there was a mist stuff settling, like dust and smoke."

Spry said he walked into the kitchen and kicked something on the floor that should not have been there, then turned on a light and saw the wall was bowed inward. He then suspected there had been a natural gas explosion, and looked outside but saw only clouds of smoke.

Neighbors came out of their houses, many with flashlights, and Spry then realized that a plane had crashed into his garage. Residents had already called police by the time they realized there was no one alive amid the wreckage.

Spry, who operates a 250-ton hydraulic press at Cardinale Scale in Carterville, estimated the plane hit his garage at a 60 degree angle. His

"If it had come in at a different angle, it could have been a lot more devastating," he said, adding that the plane appeared to have made an impact in the street between his house and one located about 100 yards away.

The largest visible piece of wreckage the tail of the propeller-driven plane lay in the middle of Cedar Street. Other bits of wreckage were strewn over several yards.

Spry's home, which he has occupied since it was built in 1975, has cracks in the walls and has been declared inhabitable. A 1987 Dodge Charger that was in the garage was heavily damaged, and there was a crater in the driveway.

The impact knocked a glass case from a wall in Spry's home, scattering medals he received from his Army service with the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam.