EDEN PRAIRIE, MN (WCCO/CNN) - A pilot is dead on Wednesday after a small plane crashed near a church and homes.
No one was hurt on the ground as the plane was left burned to the point officials couldn’t pinpoint the model of the craft or identify the pilot , WCCO said.
The pilot reported a fire onboard the single-engine craft that hit the ground in a wooded area in the parking lot of Resurrection Life Church. Officials said it appears the pilot was the only person on the plane.
He apparently brought the small plane down in an area where nobody else would be hurt.
Roxanne Neuharth said she saw the plane circling near the church before it disappeared. Dozens of planes fly over the site daily, she added, noting that the area is in the flight path of an airport.
She didn't hear a crash, but it was what she didn't hear any more than alarmed her. "That's all I know. It just, like, disappeared. I didn't know what had happened," she said.
Officials were grateful the pilot was alone on the flight.
"It is fortunate that it did not hit a building, it landed in the parking lot, there was no cars in close proximity that it even damaged, and everything was contained in the parking lot. So, that part was fortunate, but it is an unfortunate event," said Lt. Bill Wyffels of the Eden Prairie Police.
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