FAA seeks clues after plane crashes into house

SALINA, Pa. (AP) — Federal investigators are interviewing witnesses and recovering debris as they try to determine what caused a small plane to crash into a home in western Pennsylvania, killing two men onboard.

Westmoreland County officials say the plane was on a certification flight when it dived just minutes after taking off from Arnold Palmer Regional Airport around 9 a.m. Saturday.

The crash happened about 90 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The plane crashed into a house, but the homeowner escaped.

Family members identified the victims as 65-year-old Unity resident Edward Francis Sobota, who had recently purchased the plane, and 66-year-old Theodore P. Kokolis, of Moon, a flight instructor.

The Westmoreland County coroner’s office says both died as the result of blunt force trauma and burns.