PIQUA, Ohio — A charter plane crashed and burned early Friday in heavy fog, killing the pilot, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said.

        Bruce E. Menkel, 58, of Franklin, was the only person on board.

        The patrol said Mr. Menkel was flying to the Piqua Municipal Airport to pick up three employees of Hartzell Propeller Co. and take them to New York.

Pieces of a small private plane lie scattered in a cornfield Friday as an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper and an inspector from the Federal Aviation Administration check the scene. (Associated Press photo) | ZOOM |

        The plane left gouges in a back yard before it stopped on a gravel driveway short of a cornfield. Fire reduced the craft to a hulk of charred metal, with only the tail recognizable.

        “I thought a car had wrecked and hit the house,” said Patrick Toopes, 29, who was sleeping downstairs. He said his wife had already left for work and taken their two children to a baby sitter.

        The patrol said the twin-engine plane took off from the Greene County Airport near Xenia, about 35 miles from Piqua.

        The plane is registered to Middletown Corporate Aviation Inc. of Franklin and is based at the airport in Middletown, according to Federal Aviation Administration records. Company officials wouldn't comment on the crash.

        Witnesses told investigators that the plane crashed about 6:40 a.m. as it was making its third attempt to land.

        Investigators think fog contributed to the crash. Patrol Sgt. Doug Bradley said visibility on the roads was less than 100 feet.

        Steve Chambers, 53, said he heard the plane make several approaches, one of them 20 to 30 feet over his house. He said he could tell the pilot was in trouble because planes normally don't fly so low.

        “Then about five minutes later, there was a big loud explosion,” Mr. Chambers said.

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