Former Microsoft executive and his son, 17, killed as their plane crashes into a house killing two children, aged just one and 13, who were trapped inside

Washington philanthropist Bill Henningsgaard was visiting colleges with teenage son

Multi-engine propeller-driven aircraft crashed into two homes on the approach to Tweed New Haven Airport on Friday morning

Two children, aged one and 13 are presumed dead



Neighbor heard a woman screaming that her children were inside burning house

C rews working at the scene of the crash can see two bodies, but neither has been recovered

Henningsgaard ditched another small plane in Columbia River in 2009



Former Microsoft executive Bill Henningsgaard who died along with his son and two children after crashing his small plane into two Connecticut homes Friday ditched an aircraft into a river in 2009, it was revealed today.



The father of three, 54, from a prominent Astoria family, had been visiting Yale College with his only son, age 17, when their aircraft missed the runway at Tweed New Haven airport and crashed at about 11.30am.



The mother of the two children, aged one and 13, who lived in the house tried desperately to reach them but was beaten back by flames.



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Victims: Bill Henningsgaard (left) and his son Max (right) were killed in a Connecticut small-plane crash



The remains of a multiengine Rockwell International Turbo Commander 690B extend from the rear of a single family home in East Haven, Connecticut

Charred: A burnt home is pictured at the site of a plane crash in East Haven, where two bodies were found

Officials on scene: Emergency personnel look at a burnt home at the site of a plane crash in East Haven

Although the victims have not been identified officially, Mr Henningsgaard's brother told the Seattle Times : 'We have no reason to believe it was anybody else’s plane.'



Two bodies were visible in the wreckage of the East Haven home but they could not yet be reached because the building was unstable, Fire Chief Douglas Jackson said.

It is believed the bodies of two of the victims were in the basement of the house, which was filled with water. The plane's fuselage was wedged inside one of the houses.

A priest was reported to be trying to comfort the mother, who has not yet been named. Neighbors said she had only recently moved to the area.



Mr Henningsgaard was flying his Rockwell International Turbo Commander 690B from New Jersey's Teterboro airport to Tweed New Haven Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Enthusiast: Pillot Bill Henningsgaard making an aircraft in 2008. He survived a crash the following year

Two children are missing, feared dead, after a small plane crashed into their home near East Haven, Connecticut on Friday morning

Two homes in a working-class suburban neighborhood a few blocks from Tweed New Haven Airport caught fire after a plane crashed into them

A firefighter surveys the scene after a multi-engine, propeller-driven plane plunged into a working-class suburban neighborhood near Tweed New Haven Airport

The plane missed its approach as it came in to land, which 'isn't uncommon', Tweed airport manager Lori Hoffman-Soares told CNN .

'All we know is that it missed the approach and continued on. There were no distress calls as far as we know,' she said.

Life lost: Max Henningsgaard, who rowed crew for his school team, was touring colleges on the East Coast with his father when disaster struck

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board will examine whether the rain at the time of the crash may have been a factor.



This was not the former Microsoft executive's first accident. The New York Post reported that In 2009, he crashed his plane into the Columbia River in Washington state with his 84-year-old mother on board.

In a Facebook post last year, the 54-year-old father of three joked about having to buy another plane 'to replace the one that turned out not to be amphibious.'



Henningsgaard blamed the crash on engine failure, explaining in a blog entry that 10 minutes into the flight, the plane motor 'coughed briefly' and then died seconds later.



‘The plane was starting to pitch forward, being pulled toward the bottom by the heavy engine, causing the wing we were standing on to start to tilt,’ he wrote. ‘When the plane went nose-down, we’d be in the water. I’d like to tell you I felt brave and confident at that moment, that I knew we’d make it.



He went on to say that he felt fear of ‘exhaustion and panic and very possibly death as we tried for shore.



Precedent: In 2009, the former executive crashed his plane into the Columbia River in Washington state with his 84-year-old mother on board

Saved: Henningsgaard and his mother were able to climb out of the craft and were rescued by boat

‘Desperation that I couldn’t come up with any alternative to trying to make that swim. Shame that I put my mother into this situation.’

Henningsgaard and his mother escaped unharmed and were rescued by boat from the river.

No laughing matter: The father of three joked on Facebook about having to buy a new plane because the last one turned out not to be amphibious

On Friday, firefighters who rushed to the crash scene in Connecticut at 64 and 68 Charter Oak Avenue engulfed in flames.



‘We haven't recovered anybody at this point and we presume there is going to be a very bad outcome,’ East Haven Fire Chief Douglas Jackson said.

Neighbor David Esposito, said he heard a woman screaming that her children were inside the burning home.

He said he ran into the upstairs of the house, where the woman believed her children were, but they could not find them.

They returned downstairs to search but he dragged the woman out when the flames became too strong. 'It's total devastation in the back of the home,' he said.

Angela Wordie was on her deck taking in towels when she noticed a plane making a strange sound.

'It kind of was gliding. The next thing I know it hit the house,' she told NBC Connecticut .

Wordie added that she saw a woman kneeling on the front lawn of 64 Charter Oak Avenue, screaming, 'My children!'



Another neighbor, Diane Carr, recalled the moment when she felt her house vibrate as Hennigsgaard's plane approached the street. With the neighborhood’s close proximity to the airport, she had initially thought nothing of it.



‘I ran outside,’ she told the New Haven Register . ‘We started to see smoke, and then we heard explosions. Then we heard popping sounds afterwards.’



The FAA said it is investigating the cause of the crash.



Connecticut's Governor Dannel Malloy has said that crews working at the scene can see two bodies, but neither has been recovered

Neighbor David Esposito said he heard a woman screaming that her children were inside the burning home

When firefighters arrived they found two homes engulfed in flames following the crash

Neighbor David Esposito said he heard a woman screaming that her children were inside the burning home

Emergency personnel survey the damage at the site of the crash

Mr Henningsgaard was the son of a former Astoria mayor and the brother of the Oregon city's district attorney, according to the Daily Astorian .

Blair Henningsgaard, the victim’s brother, said the 54-year-old retired from Microsoft years ago and dedicated his life to helping underprivileged youth through Eastside Pathways, a non-for-profit organization he had set up.



Seattle-based non-profit organization Social Venture Partners confirmed the death of board member Mr Henningsgaard in a tribute on its website.



'There are hundreds of people that have a story about Bill - when he went the extra mile, when he knew just the right thing to say, how he would never give up,' SVP said in a statement. 'He was truly all-in for this community, heart, mind and soul.'

Max, 17, was due to be a senior at independent Seattle school Lakeside. He had traveled to the East Coast with his father so they could look at colleges, including Yale, according to NBC.



A spokesperson for Tweed New Haven Airport said the pilot had been in communication with air traffic control and did not issue any distress calls

Two homes caught fire after the crash and three people are missing, the pilot plus two children aged one and 13 years old

The plane which crashed was a Rockwell International Turbo Commander 690B, a multi-engine turbo prop plane (stock image)

East Haven Fire Chief Douglas Jackson said his team had not yet recovered anyone from the two buildings

Mr Henningsgaard, who worked at Microsoft for 14 years before following a career in philanthropy, had survived a plane crash with his mother, Edna, a former Astoria mayor, in 2009.

A boat had to rescue them from the Columbia river after their light aircraft plunged into the water.

