Plane crash near Phoenix Open tournament; passengers dead

A light plane  Piper PA-24 Comanche had crashed into a golf course. The single-engine Comanche can have four or six seats. Here are the details of the crash.

US investigators on Tuesday headed to the scene of a light plane crash at the sister golf course of a US PGA Tour event, where six people on board died, officials said.

Police and a worker at the TPC Scottsdale golf shop confirmed to a leading news agency that the plane went down Monday night at the site’s Champions Course, and not the neighboring Stadium Course which in February hosted the Phoenix Open won by Gary Woodland.

“None of the six passengers aboard the aircraft survived,” a police statement said.

“Arriving officers located the crash scene on the Champions Course, which is located just north of the Scottsdale Airport,” the statement said, adding that the aircraft went down at about 8:45 pm (03: 45 GMT Tuesday).

Police did not identify the victims.

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The US Federal Aviation Administration identified the aircraft as a single-engine Piper PA-24 which “crashed off airport property on a golf course and caught fire after takeoff from Runway 3 Monday evening.”

The FAA, which is investigating with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said in a statement that there were no reports of injuries to people on the ground.

NTSB spokesman Eric Weiss told the agency that two of the agency’s investigators were on their way to the scene for a probe that would typically take three to five days.

NTSB investigator Eliott Simpson says the goal is to collect as much evidence as possible and not try to jump to conclusions about the cause of the fiery crash.

He says investigators will document how the plane hit the ground and determine if it hit any trees on the golf course and examine the burned area of terrain.

Scottsdale police say they’ll release the identities of the six victims once they’re determined by the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office, but it’s unknown when that process will be completed.