
The pilot of a plane that crashed near a Houston airport halted a third attempt to land just before it plummeted to the ground, killing the female pilot, her husband, and his brother.

Audio showed that the pilot, identified as Dana Gray, 46, was told at least twice to turn around and make another attempt to land. She was also told that she was she's flying too high and has to turn around to land at Hobby Airport.

The pilot can be heard nervously laughing as she says, 'Trying to get down again.' An air traffic controller says 'no problem.'

Just before the crash, a traffic controller says: 'Ma'am, ma'am, straighten up, straighten up.'

Gray, her husband Tony, 52, both racing enthusiasts, and Tony's brother Jerry, 27, all died in what National Transportation Safety Board investigator Tom Latson described as a 'violent impact' that was caught on a hardware store security camera.

The gruesome footage shows the small plane nosediving into a parked car.

Dana Gray, 46, her husband Tony, 52, and his brother Jerry, 27, all died in a violent crash that was caught on a hardware store security camera

The video shot near a Houston airport on Thursday shows the plane suddenly striking a parked car in the parking lot of a hardware store

Moments before the crash, an air traffic controller told Gray: 'Ma'am, ma'am, straighten up, straighten up,' audio recordings show

It's unclear whether the pilot made a distress call just before the crash that happened Thursday afternoon near Hobby Airport, Latson said.

He said that initial information indicates Gray didn't make any other calls to air traffic controllers after she waved off the third landing attempt.

'During this [third] approach, the pilot decided they would make a go-around themselves without direction and announced they were going around and began climbing out to the north,' he said, adding that pilots are allowed to wave off an approach if they are not comfortable with it.

Moore, Oklahoma, Police Sgt. Jeremy Lewis told KOCO-TV that Gray was a 'very, very safe pilot.'

The plane took off from Norman, Oklahoma, and had just been refueled, meaning it had about five hours' worth of fuel, Latson said, though he noted that it isn't clear whether the plane could have run out of fuel because both tanks ruptured in the crash.

The NTSB is still trying to determine how much flying experience the pilot had, Latson said, but that she had been flying the plane since the Oklahoma company that owns it bought it in 2012. She and her husband have two sons: Jared, 21, and Blaze, 24.

The victims of the Houston plane crash were identified as Tony Gray and his wife Dana (pictured together left) and his brother Jerry (right pictured with the couple's son Jerry Jr.)

A small plane that crashed into a car in a parking lot near a Houston airport, killing three people aboard the aircraft, is roped off on Thursday

Dustin Bowman paid tribute to the victims on Facebook, writing: 'It's hard knowing I'll never get to nag Tony for business or racing advice again, but I'll always remember the advice he has given me.'

'As this racing community grieves over this, we shall remember that this life on earth is a short stint and a blink of a eye compared to the eternity we will spend with our father above. Tony, Dana, and Jerry are now there waiting on the rest of us.'

'We will all be trying our hardest to hold back the tears but we will eventually raise up the cheers to celebrate these three people's lives and all the joy they've brought us all for the time they were with us.'

A post on the Facebook page for Thunder Valley Raceway Park paid tribute to the Gray family on Thursday. It said: 'We have no words to describe the loss to the TVRP family, as the Gray family have been long time racers, sponsors, and friends at the track.

Tony and Dana Gray (pictured), of Moore, Oklahoma, were racing enthusiasts. They died along with Tony's brother Jerry, who was 27

Dana Gray is pictured with her son Jared, 21, in a plane. He captioned the picture on Facebook: 'Flew to Arkansas with my momma today'

The aircraft had been trying to land at Hobby Airport, in the southeastern part of the city, when it crashed less than a mile northwest of the airport

The NTSB is still trying to determine how much flying experience the pilot had. She had been flying the plane since the Oklahoma company that owns it bought it in 2012

Police and fire officials investigate the scene where a small plane crashed into a car in a parking lot near a Houston airport

The flight-tracking website FlightAware showed that in the last 15 minutes, the plane's altitude greatly fluctuated, going from 1,800 feet down to 200 feet and back up to 1,200 feet before crashing

Records in the Federal Aviation Administration registry show the plane was registered to Safe Aviation LLC in Moore, Oklahoma, and had been manufactured in 2012. Officials with Safe Aviation could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday, and a phone listing for the company could not be found.

The flight-tracking website FlightAware showed that in the last 15 minutes, the plane's altitude greatly fluctuated, going from 1,800 feet down to 200 feet and back up to 1,200 feet before crashing.

NTSB's final report on the crash will take six months to a year, Latson said.

Also on Thursday, a plane crash in North Dakota killed three people when a four-seat Piper PA-28 plane being flown by a 20-year-old crashed into a lake.

The 20-year-old pilot, Colbie Fandrich, died along with 38-year-old Christine Fandrich and her 10-year-old son, Aaron Nordstrom.

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Television news footage showed the plane narrowly missed hitting a couple of propane tanks in the parking lot