Fiery Boca Raton Plane Crash Leaves 3 Dead

A man in a car also was injured when the small plane crashed near an interstate overpass a short distance from Boca Raton Airport in Florida, the authorities said.

Three people were killed when a small plane crashed near the airport in Boca Raton, Fla., on Friday, officials said, sending large plumes of smoke billowing into the air as residents reported hearing a thunderous crashing sound.

The three people who died were all on board the Cessna plane when it crashed just after 10 a.m., said Michael LaSalle, an assistant chief and public information officer with the Boca Raton Fire Rescue.

A fourth person on the ground was treated for non-life threatening injuries after he drove through the “fireball” from the crash and hit a tree, Chief LaSalle said.

The plane’s pilot reported “mechanical issues” just before the crash, he said.

Footage from television news showed debris on a set of train tracks beneath a highway overpass. The Boca Raton police said a major section of Interstate 95 had been closed near the crash site.

Flightradar24, a flight tracking site, captured a dizzying flight pattern as the plane looped and zigzagged around the Boca Raton area. It took off around 10:15 a.m. local time from Boca Raton Airport and was headed to Tallahassee, Fla., according to the site.

The plane, a Cessna 310R built in 1977, was registered to a limited liability company in Delaware, according to a Federal Aviation Administration database. That model seats four to six people.

The identities of the victims were not immediately made public.

Kurt Gibson, an N.T.S.B. investigator, said at a news conference on Friday evening that investigators have started collecting data and surveying the crash site, which could take days. A drone team has taken aerial photos of the site.

He said that the plane was in the air for about eight to 10 minutes.

Investigators were not immediately aware of any mechanical issues on the plane, Mr. Gibson said, adding that the pilot made contact with air traffic control during the flight.

The wreckage of the plane, much of which rests on nearby train tracks, will be moved to a salvage facility in Jacksonville for further inspection, he said.

As part of the investigation, the agency will review flight data, air traffic control communications, the plane’s maintenance records, weather data, the pilot’s license history and activities in the 72 hours before the crash, witness statements and video footage, including from doorbell cameras.

A preliminary report is expected in 30 days, Peter C. Knudson, an N.T.S.B. spokesman, said.

A business manager at the airport said shortly after the crash that the airport had closed because of an “aircraft incident.” The airport, which mainly operates private and charter flights, had reopened by noon.

Tri-Rail, South Florida’s commuter rail system, said that service had been affected between the Deerfield Beach and Boca Raton stations because of the crash, causing delays for the rest of the day.

Lorenzo Echeverria, a pilot and flight instructor who lives about a mile from the airport, had just returned from a morning run when he heard what sounded like an “abnormally loud” propeller plane

At first he thought it might be a military aircraft or a bigger propeller plane, but when he checked a flight tracker app, he saw that the plane appeared to be flying in a random pattern that was “all over the place” at around 200 feet, “which is extremely abnormal,” Mr. Echeverria said.

Planes are restricted to flying least 1,000 feet over congested areas, he said.

“Even someone with a special flight permit wouldn’t be able to do that type of thing,” he said. “Right then and there I knew something was wrong.”

Mr. Echeverria did not hear the crash because of his hurricane-proof windows, he said, but the next thing he knew, there was a large black plume of smoke.

“Our hearts are heavy today with this tragic loss of life,” the Boca Raton mayor, Scott Singer, said on social media.

Simon J. Levien contributed reporting.