FAIRVIEW, OR -- The National Transportation Safety Board continues to investigate a weekend plane crash east of Portland that killed both people on board the aircraft and one person on the ground.

NTSB Air Safety Investigator Michael Hicks says the Cessna took off from the Troutdale Airport, "Saturday, August 31st, about 10:25 a.m. N421GP departed runway 25, Troutdale Airport, on a maintenance test flight." Hicks told reporters Tuesday, "During that maintenance test flight, the pilot reported issues with controlability. What those issues are, we are going to find out." He added, "Shortly after reporting the issues, a helicopter pilot in a Robinson R22 indicated that the aircraft, N421GP, impacted a residential area."

Gresham Fire Chief Scott Lewis says multiple townhome units in Fairview were destroyed, "The main impact was the second townhome in. And we have severe damage to the one to the right and the left; those three are definitely destroyed. My guess is the fourth one is probably unrepairable."

Tom Keegan was inside one of those units, "I saw the stuff blowing through the room, and I think that was the airplane coming across our deck and back of the house area. And then, 'boom,' and I was just thrown across into the bathtub. Somehow I looked around and saw insulation everywhere." He says the noise was incredible, "Like an M80 went off right here beside my head. When I stood up, I just- it was the loudest boom I ever heard." He believes being in his bathroom at the time of the crash may have saved his life, "If I'd have been in the other bathroom, I don't think I would've found a way out because when I came out of my bathroom, I looked at the bedroom and it was engulfed in flames and smoke and smelled like the most ghastly smell. It was plastic melting and electronics and stuff like that."

His wife Judy had walked down the street just before the crash and rushed home as soon as the chaos began. She was relieved to find her husband outside, but her next door neighbor was killed - her best friend of 20 years, "And I knew my friend was in the house."
The plane is registered to a Delaware corporation. The NTSB says the crash investigation could take up to 18 months.