In this image provided by Portland Fire & Rescue, teams work at the scene where a small aircraft crashed into multiple townhouses in Fairview, Ore., August 31, 2024, killing three people.
Courtesy of Greg Muhr/Portland Fire & Rescue
Three people are dead after a small plane crashed into four townhouses in Fairview on Saturday.
Michael Hicks, an air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said the agency is collecting “perishable information,” that is anything that can disappear into the environment over time.
He says so far, investigators know that plane number N421GP took off from nearby Troutdale Airport at about 10:25 a.m. Saturday morning.
“During that maintenance test flight the pilot reported issues with controllability,” Hicks said. “What those issues are, we are going to find out.”
NTSB investigator, Michael Hicks, speaks to the press in Fairview about the plane crash, Aug 31, 2024
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
Multnomah County Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell said her office is helping with the investigation.
“When deputies arrived they found several townhomes on fire,” she said. “Our deputies went door to door, evacuating people inside and grabbing garden hoses and dousing the flames until firefighters arrived.”
Judy and Tom Keegan lost their home in the crash. He was in the house recovering from shoulder surgery when the plane hit.
“I just got blown around and then I came out, walked out through the broken glass,” he said. “And then my neighbor started taking care of me.”
He said he plans to contact nearby Troutdale Airport, where the plane took off, to ask whether they will consider using other flight paths in the future.
“I cringe now, every time I hear a plane fly over,” Keegan said.
Judy and Tom Keegan embrace Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024 in Fairview, where their home was recently destroyed when a plane crashed into it and three other homes. Tom was in the house recovering from shoulder surgery when the plane hit, “I just got blown around and then I came out, walked out through the broken glass,” he said. “And then my neighbor started taking care of me.”
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
Authorities are not yet identifying those killed, as next of kin have yet to be informed.
Gresham Fire Chief Scott Lewis confirmed that the Cessna 421C pilot, a passenger and a resident living in a townhouse near Fairview’s Heartwood Circle were killed.
As the plane went down, it knocked over a pole and power lines, causing a separate brush fire in a nearby field. First responders told OPB the plane was split into multiple parts after the collision.
Portland General Electric said early Saturday afternoon that the incident impacted electricity to about 9,000 customers. Supply was restored to customers around 3 p.m.
Student Kathrine Ethridge lives right across the street from the burned houses, “I was in my home and I thought it was an earthquake,” she said.
Ethridge knew the neighbor who died as an avid gardener, “And the kind of person who would help without saying much.”
The National Transportation Safety Board investigation could take up to 18 months to complete.
In this image provided by Portland Fire & Rescue, teams work at the scene where a small aircraft crashed into multiple townhouses in Fairview, Ore., August 31, 2024, killing three people.
Courtesy of Greg Muhr/Portland Fire & Rescue