2 killed when small plane crashes into Simi Valley in southern California

A tiny plane crashed into two residences in Simi Valley, California, on Saturday afternoon, killing two people and a dog, authorities said.

The plane slammed into the two-story, single-family homes around 2:10 p.m. – igniting a fire and sending huge plumes of smoke into the air. According to the Ventura County Fire Department, people were inside both residences at the time of the accident but were safely evacuated with no injuries, and the fire was extinguished.

The Simi Valley Police Department reported that there were no survivors on board the jet.

According to Simi Valley police, the pilot, a passenger, and a dog were aboard the plane when it crashed at 2:10 p.m. Pacific Time in the 200 block of High Meadow Street near Wood Ranch Parkway.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the aircraft was a Vans RV-10 that took off from William J. Fox Airfield in Lancaster and was en route to Camarillo Airport.

"The plane hardly exists anymore," police Simi Valley Police Department Senior Officer Casey Nicholson said at the scene. "It's wreckage."

Residents of each home were told the residences are uninhabitable, meaning they can't return until sufficient repairs are made, Nicholson said.

"After the wreckage is documented, it will then be moved to a secure facility for further evaluation," said a statement from the NTSB. They want to investigate three variables in the crash: the pilot, the aircraft, and the operational environment. Their preliminary report is due within 30 days, but the whole study may take up to two years to complete.

The FAA first indicated in a statement that the pilot was the plane's sole occupant. However, officials later reported that the jet was carrying two humans and a dog.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident, which comes after a devastating midair collision outside Washington, DC, in January and a string of aviation incidents across the country that have triggered scrutiny of air travel.

In early January, a Vans RV-10 crashed into a warehouse in Orange County, killing two people on board and injuring more than a dozen others inside of the building. An NTSB inquiry discovered that the pilot's door was open during the flight.