Plane crash near Ohio airport kills 3; federal authorities investigating

VIENNA, Ohio -- A plane trying to make an emergency landing at an airport in northeastern Ohio crashed, killing all three people aboard, authorities said.

The twin-engine Beechcraft 60 went down near the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Ohio at about 6:45 p.m. Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration said Saturday.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol post in Trumbull County, which was notified shortly after 7 p.m. Friday, said the crash just north of the airport killed the pilot and two passengers. The families of the victims have been notified and names are to be released later, an official said.

“A mechanical failure is suspected and the aircraft was reported as attempting to make an emergency landing" before it went down “near one of the runways” in Fowler Township, the Warren post of the highway patrol said in a news release Saturday afternoon.

Anthony Trevena, executive director of the Western Reserve Port Authority, said the plane had come from Plattsburgh, New York, but officials didn't immediately know where it was headed. He said he had been told that the victims were a man, a woman and a child.

Trevena said it appeared that the plane's left engine had failed, and it missed the approach to land and circled back to approach again but went out of control and crashed near the north end of the runway. Firefighters with the Youngstown Air Reserve station at the airport worked with local emergency responders to control the resulting fire, he said.

The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, the FAA said in a statement. State troopers are being assisted at the scene by local police and fire units and the county sheriff's office, the highway patrol said.