Family runs to help victims after plane crashes into Georgetown home

Dylan King said his family was eating breakfast when his father-in-law saw a plane "coming in low" Sunday morning in Georgetown.

GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) — Dylan King said his family was eating breakfast when his father-in-law saw a plane "coming in low" Sunday morning. Moments later, the plane crashed into the roof of an under-construction duplex in a Georgetown neighborhood.

"We all just got up from breakfast. Ran across the street barefoot. Went around to the other house and it smelled like fuel. I started to kick down the door," King said.

King and his sister-in-law Breale Morton immediately sprung into action to help.

"Went up there expecting the worst and got the best ... glad God was watching over some people. It could've been way worse," King said.

Morton said they worried about an explosion around the crash site as they ran to the home just before noon Sunday.

"Yeah. That's why we got up in there really fast. Because we were trying to get them out."

King and Morton said they helped pull a man and two women out of the wreckage.

"They were in really good condition considering what happened," King said. "They were scared, they didn't know what was going on. They looked really confused. We had helped them down off the balcony and they were trying to jump through a hole in the roof. We opened the attic stairs and they got down that way."

Morton said the passengers seemed to come out with minor injuries.

"They were limping," Morton said. "But besides like blood and a few gashes and burnt feet from walking up on the roof, they were in pretty good condition."

Latest on the crash investigation

Air traffic control audio and an early Federal Aviation Administration investigative report indicate engine failure occurred before the crash.

The FAA's report notes the damage to the plane, a Beech model 35 Bonanza (BE35), was "substantial" but that injuries were "minor." Three people, including the pilot, were on board at the time.

The plane crashed into a duplex on the 500 block of North Wood Drive, which is less than a mile from Runway 36 at the Georgetown Executive Airport.

FAA records show the plane is a fixed-wing, single-engine plane that uses a reciprocating engine. Reciprocating engines are also known as piston engines because they use one or more pistons within the internal combustion engine to convert pressure into a rotational motion, according to SKYbrary. SKYbrary is a website that "is an electronic repository of safety knowledge related to flight operations, air traffic management (ATM) and aviation safety."

This plane has not had an accident before, according to the NTSB website.

Georgetown Fire Department officials said the home is not in that bad of shape.

“It is fairly minimally impacted. Probably the biggest concern is gonna be the fuel that has dripped from the the attic to the first to the second floor,” City of Georgetown Battalion Chief Scott Gibson said. “We’ve eliminated most of ignition sources that are around. We’ve cut the power to the house.”

KXAN Reporter Sarah Al-Shaikh contributed to this report.