Emergency crews responded to a fatal plane crash near the Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville on Monday morning.
The Titusville Fire Department confirmed the 10:16 a.m. crash killed the lone passenger, the pilot who had yet to be positively identified Monday because of the severity of the fire.
“Witnesses reported that the aircraft struck a power line before crashing onto the roadway,” the fire department stated in a press release. “The individual’s identity will be released following positive identification and notification of next of kin.”
The crash was just short of the airport’s runway on the side of the State Road 405 between Sisson Road and South Washington Avenue.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it would investigate the crash and identified the aircraft as a Mooney M20F, which is a four-seat, propeller-driven plane.
Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration were already on scene along with Florida Department of Transportation, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Brevard County Sheriff’s Office and the Medical Examiner’s Office.
Officials with the Titusville Police Department said both eastbound and westbound lanes of Columbia Boulevard would remain closed for an extended period while the investigation continued, while also allowing for a specialized company to come from Jacksonville and remove the aircraft.
That is the stretch of highway just north of the airport and west of the NASA Causeway leading over the Indian River to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
Power remained out for the area and Florida Power & Light estimated repairs and restoration would take several hours.
Valiant Air Command, which operates the Warbird Museum and flies aircraft out of the airport said in a social media post that none of their aircraft, crew members, staff or volunteers were involved.