KALKASKA -- They left their house to shovel snow, and saw an airplane circle overhead.
Suddenly, Scott Stanford and Justin Rider scrambled for safety as a single-engine aircraft slammed into their rural Kalkaska County home.
"We had just stepped out maybe two minutes before it went right into our house," Stanford said.
The pilot of the six-seat plane tried, but failed, to land at Cherry Capital Airport in harsh, wintry conditions Saturday afternoon and died when he crashed into the house, off M-66 south of Kalkaska.
The Cessna 206 had taken off from St. Paul, Minn., and was believed headed to Glens Falls, N.Y., said Tony Molinaro, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman in Chicago. The male pilot was the aircraft's lone occupant, police and witnesses said.
Stanford and Rider watched as the plane twice circled above them. The aircraft clipped a stand of nearby pines, then crashed into the rear of their house, destroying a bathroom and the living room.
As they ran for cover, debris from the plane scattered across the property.
"A door about 10 feet above flew right over me," Rider said. "It was crazy."
The plane came to rest near a pole barn. The men said they found the pilot dead inside the aircraft.
The pilot attempted to land at Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City a short time before the crash, said Ron Hubbard, an FAA official based here.
"Our controllers cleared him to land (but) he couldn't see the runway," Hubbard said.
The Cessna then turned north toward Elk Rapids, where Cherry Capital's tower lost sight of him. He reappeared on radar heading toward the Kalkaska area, Hubbard said.
"Nobody could reach him," he said. Then, "everybody lost contact with him."
FAA officials and Cessna company representatives are expected to arrive at the scene this afternoon, Kalkaska County Sheriff Bill Artress said.
"He might have just gotten iced up," said Derek Hogerheide, assistant fire chief in Kalkaska Township. "Awfully hard to see the ground from here."
The pilot was instrument-rated, Hogerheide said, meaning he was certified to fly using instruments aboard his plane even when he couldn't see out the window, such as through clouds.
Heavy snow and high winds descended on the area Saturday afternoon, but authorities said it was too soon to say if weather played a role in the crash.
"It's screwed up for driving, let alone flying," Kalkaska County Undersheriff Bruce Gualtiere said. "I can't imagine."
The red and blue flashing lights of emergency vehicles shone through fierce, swirling snow along the highway as crews wandered about the scene. Firefighters and police officers directed traffic and spoke to witnesses as daylight gave way to darkness.
The pilot's identity hasn't been released.
Kevin Borgen lives just south of the crash site and heard the plane approach seconds before the collision.
"I could hear his motor sounded funny, then I heard it hit the trees and I felt it hit the ground," he said.
Neighbor Jack Minder said he heard a loud noise, looked across the street and saw smoke rolling from a house. He thought at first a vehicle had struck the home, or perhaps something triggered an explosion.
He walked over, and then realized a plane had crashed.
"I couldn't believe it. I was like, 'Holy smokes,'" he said. "At first I didn't think it was a plane, it was so mangled up."
Photojournalist Douglas Tesner contributed to this report.
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