NEWBERG, Ore. — A plane fell from the sky and crashed through the roof of a home in Newberg, Oregon on Tuesday evening. Two people on board were killed and a third person was injured and life-flighted to a hospital, according to Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue (TVF&R).
Newberg-Dundee police confirmed to KGW on Wednesday that the name of the woman who was injured and taken to the hospital is 20-year-old Emily Hurd of Hillsboro. The agency identified the two who died as 20-year-old Barrett Bevacqua and 22-year-old Michele Cavallotti, also of Hillsboro.
Police said that Cavallotti was an instructor with the Hillsboro Aero Academy and Bevacqua was a student pilot.
According to FlightAware, a flight tracking website, the plane is a twin-engine Piper owned by Hillsboro Aero Academy. The plane departed around 6:20 p.m. on Tuesday, appeared to lose air speed suddenly and crashed less than 30 minutes after takeoff.
The cause of the crash is unknown at this time. The Newberg-Dundee Police Department is working alongside the Federal Aviation Administration and National Safety Board to investigate the cause of the crash.
Around 6:47 p.m. Tuesday, Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue responded to multiple reports of a small plane spiraling towards the ground and crashing into a home on North Cedar Street in Newberg. Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue said that the plane crashed through the roof of the home and came to a rest partially inside the home and in part of the backyard.
Everyone inside the home was able to evacuate safely, according to TVF&R.
Cavallotti and Bevacqua were found dead inside of the plane wreckage. Firefighters managed to extricate Hurd from the plane and get her to a Life Flight helicopter. She remained hospitalized in critical condition as of Wednesday's release.
KGW spoke with a neighbor who took video of the plane as it fell from the sky. The video shows the plane spiraling through the sky from high above in the air before it disappears behind a row of houses right before it crashed.
"I'm in shock ... and I ended up getting a glimpse and being, someone else has to see this to confirm what I'm seeing," said Micah Schauer, who shot the video. "It still doesn't really feel like it's real. I truly do feel sorry for their family and their loss."
KGW also spoke with neighbors Chris and Nichole Gieber. They said some young kids, including their son, were playing in the front yard of the home when the plane crashed.
"I ran out to see if my boy was OK and they were crying and I said, 'Did the plane hit the house?' And yeah, it hit his buddy's house," Chris Gieber said.
No one near the home was injured, fire officials said.
"Thank goodness somebody was looking after them and had them in the front yard," Nichole Gieber said.
The Technical Rescue Team and Urban Search crews assisted in managing the scene and overseeing the structural stability of the home. The home and plane did not catch fire.
Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue worked alongside the Newberg-Dundee Police Department, Federal Aviation Administration and National Safety Board, the Technical Rescue Team and Urban Search crews, Dundee Fire, Portland General Electric, Northwest Natural Gas, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
The Red Cross will be assisting the displaced family.
Download the KGW News app: Download for iPhone here | Download for Android here
Stream newscasts for free on KGW+ on Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV: How to add app to your device here
See a typo in this article? Email web@kgw.com for corrections