Texas Plane Crash Kills Three

SAGINAW, Texas – A plane crashed and burst into flames Wednesday afternoon, killing all three people aboard, authorities said.

The unidentified plane had taken off from Hicks Airfield (search), a small airport north of Saginaw, when it crashed in a residential area about 12:25 p.m., Federal Aviation Administration spokesman John Clabes said.

"It crashed into a backyard and exploded," Clabes said. "We do know that he [the pilot] was not under air traffic control."

The fiery wreckage was making it difficult to recover the tail number used to identify the owner of the aircraft, he said. He said officials were still trying to determine the type of plane.

Investigators with the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (search) were en route, he said.

According to witnesses, the plane was flying low, then crashed between two houses, slid into a fence and then caught fire, Tarrant County (search) sheriff's spokesman Terry Grisham said.

Grisham said nobody on the ground was injured.