3 killed after small plane crashes into home

DULUTH, Minn. (Northern News Now/Gray News) – Three people in their 30s were killed when a small plane crashed into a house in Minnesota Saturday night.

According to authorities, the pilot and two passengers died when the plane hit the second floor of the home and landed in the backyard.

Jason Hoffman and his wife were sleeping in their bed when the plane crashed. They said it sounded like a bomb going off.

“First thing I saw was that the roof was gone,” Hoffman told KBRJ. “So, once I turned the flashlight down around us, we started to see some airplane parts. There was a wheel next to the bed.”

Hoffman said the dust from the insulation was so thick that he couldn’t see his wife in the bed next to him.

He said it was traumatizing and feels terrible for the three people in the plane, but also feels extremely lucky to be alive, seeing as the plane came right over the top of their bodies.

“If you’re on the bed and you look straight up at the impact, the lowest spot of the impact was 18 inches above our heads,” Hoffman said.

According to a Hermantown city spokesperson, Hermantown Police were notified by Duluth International Airport that a Cessna 172 had left radar and possibly crashed late Saturday night.

The last location it was seen on radar was 1.5 miles south of the airport.

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