2 die in LV plane crash

Friday, Aug. 20, 1999 | 4:31 a.m.

Two people died in a fiery crash of a private plane that hit a northwest Las Vegas home about 12:30 p.m. today, officials said.

The 1966 single-engine Mooney plane went down near the North Las Vegas Airport, sending a trail of smoke into the sky.

A third person from the wreck was taken to University Medical Center with injuries.

The plane's owner was listed as Kenneth Horne of Denby Avenue.

The plane crashed into a home at 3249 Sisk Road, in the area of Cheyenne Avenue, Torrey Pines Drive and Rainbow Boulevard.

The family was in the back yard when the plane hit, Debbie Millett, McCarran International Airport spokeswoman, said.

Bill Simpson and his wife were walking out of a Wal Mart on Cheyenne when they heard the plane's engine sputtering overhead.

"It was revving a bit, and he was doing some erratic movements," Simpson said, moving his hands from side to side. "He went up in the air and then flipped over on his back and went down."

Las Vegas resident David Jackson was at the corner of Torrey Pines and Cheyenne when he saw the plane teetering overhead. "He did one hard turn to the right and one quick one to the left and then he did a nose dive. All I saw was a cloud of black smoke come up afterwards," Jackson said. "When I saw that quick left, I knew he was in trouble."

Emergency crews responded to the scene immediately to douse the flames, McCarran International Airport spokesman John Hanks said.

A Federal Aviation Administration team had been notified, a McCarran spokeswoman said.