Investigation continues into Simi Valley plane crash that left pilot, passenger and dog dead

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (KABC) -- An investigation is underway Sunday after two people and a dog were killed in a plane crash in Simi Valley.

The plane crashed into two homes around 2 p.m. Saturday in the 200 block of High Meadow Street in the Wood Ranch area.

The pilot of the small, single-engine aircraft, one passenger, and a dog all died in the crash, the Simi Valley Police Department confirmed.

A small plane crashed in a Simi Valley neighborhood and caused a fire Saturday afternoon. Police confirmed that there were two people and a dog onboard.

It was cloudy when the plane took off from Lancaster and headed toward Camarillo. The plane's flight path shows that when it reached the Wood Ranch neighborhood, it took a turn.

An investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board laid out what they're focusing on in the investigation and said they "have a lot of work to do."

Authorities have not released the names of the two people who died.

Meanwhile, High Meadow Street is back open, but two families will be displaced from their homes for the foreseeable future as the investigation continues. Fortunately, no residents were injured.

The couple who lives in the home that had the most damage saw the plane coming down and got out just in time. They told Eyewitness News that they noticed the plane flying low, almost on its side, spiraling toward the ground.

The family's Ring camera captured what looked like an explosion and flames coming from the back of the home upon impact.

"I came in to the patio door to warn her, and then I heard the bang, then I turned around, she was almost out," homeowner Arman Hovakemian said. "The hose was there, so I grabbed the hose because I saw the fire on the plane, and then I saw the fire on the house. I kept the hose on the plane, and then it just exploded, so I dropped it and I said, 'I need to kind of back away,' because I could smell a lot of gas and fuel."

From AIR7 video above the scene, you could barely make out the actual plane itself, which is reported to be a homemade kit plane. A lone tire was the only distinguishable part scattered amongst the home's patio furniture.

The NTSB says it has now finished removing the small pieces of the plane that ended up scattered around the homeowner's yard.

"We will be looking into the occupants on board, the pilot, the machine, the airframe itself, being the airplane, which is an RV-10, and the environment," NTSB Air Safety Investigators Michael Hicks said.

The NTSB says it wants to understand what the pilot saw and endured before the plane went down. Investigators will look at the aircraft's maintenance records, air traffic communications, and the pilot's training.

The Hovakemian family told Eyewitness News that they are staying at a relative's house and are working with their insurance company to figure out the next steps.

The full investigation into the crash could take up to 18 months.