By Gillian Graham

Staff Writer

 Kim Myers was nearly speechless Monday afternoon as she saw the twisted remains of a plane on the roof of her destroyed home.

“Just shock. Total shock,” she said.

Myers and her husband, Steve, returned to their home on Granite Street Extension in Biddeford hours after a twin-engine Cessna crashed into the roof. The impact sparked a fire that destroyed much of the plane and home.

The pilot of the plane died. Investigators are still working to identify the pilot, who was the only person in the plane.

Federal aviation investigators on Monday began the long process of determining the cause of the crash, said Shawn Etcher, air safety investigator for the National Traffic Safety Board.

The Cessna 402 was based in Portland and had flown to White Plains, N.Y., before heading to Biddeford to pick up a passenger, said Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety. He and other investigators do not know the plane’s intended final destination. The plane crashed at 6:05 p.m. Sunday.

The crash happened about a half mile from Biddeford Municipal Airport. The airport’s runway runs parallel to Granite Street Extension.

Kim Myers said she and her husband have lived in the house for less than two years. Steve Myers said they love the area and enjoy watching planes buzz overhead on their way to the airport. Their home is insured and they plan to rebuild.

Less than an hour before the crash, the Myers stopped by the house to pick up their dog, Jeneva, to bring along to a family dinner at her sister’s house. They had just sat down for dinner when they got a phone call that a plane had crashed into the home they spent so much time renovating.

“I thought no way, are you serious?” Kim Myers said. They, along with family, rushed to the scene to find the home engulfed in flames.

“It’s like oh my God,” Kim Myers said Monday as she looked at her house. “There was a guy in there that died. I feel so sad for his family. It’s unbelievable.”

Accompanied by family members, Kim and Steve Myers walked to the backyard to survey damage to their home. Steve Myers’ grill and fire pit appeared unscathed, as was Kim Myers’ favorite lilac bush. A wind chime, also untouched by fire, rang softly from the back deck.

Kayla Lebel, Kim Myers’ niece and goddaughter, said her friend called the family about the crash.

“It was a complete shock to hear that,” she said. “It’s very emotional. The memories we’ve shared here, the stuff we’ve given them.”

Lebel said she and her aunt exchange Christmas ornaments each year and fears those were destroyed by fire or water.

Debbie Lebel, Kim Myers’ sister and a Biddeford cheering coach, said the cheering families immediately stepped in to offer help. They established a fund at PeoplesChoice in Saco to collect donations for the family.

Kim Myers said the community support is overwhelming.

“I just can’t believe the outpouring. It’s amazing the support this community has offered,” she said. “I just can’t wrap my brain around it, it’s wonderful.”

Earlier in the day, a steady stream of cars drove slowly past the scene. Drivers and passengers briefly paused to snap cell phone photos, while neighbors walked to the scene for a first look in daylight.

Denise Caouette has lived on Granite Street Extension since 1996. She said she has long been nervous about planes headed to Biddeford Municipal Airport and this accident cemented her decision to sell her house.

“I’m even more scared than I was when I bought this house,” she said in a shaky voice. “My poor granddaughter said ‘Memere, you have to move, you have to move.’ I’m leaving. This has really, really scared me. I don’t know if I can sleep at night wondering if a plane will crash into my house.”

Debbie Charron, who lives across St. Joseph Cemetery from Granite Street Extension, walked to the scene Monday morning with her husband, Stephen.

“This is unreal,” she said as she looked at the wreckage.

The Charrons were sitting in their kitchen when they heard what they thought was loud thunder Sunday night.

“We stepped to the window to see what the noise was and we saw a big ball of flames,” Debbie Charron said. “Then we heard a pop, pop.”

“It’s unreal. We’ve never seen anything like this before,” she said. “I feel so bad for the family that lost their house. I feel bad for the pilot and his family.”

Chris Ernest, who lives on Hill Street, said he was out in his yard Sunday when a plane passed low overhead.

“We heard the plane spittering and sputtering. You could tell something wasn’t right with the plane,” he said. “The plane was kind of teeter-tottering. It just wasn’t right.”

Ernest said he rushed toward Granite Street Extension and was one of the first bystanders to arrive after the plane hit the house. He said hundreds of people lined the street to watch firefighters put out the intense fire.

“You don’t see this every day. I was in awe. I think everyone here was in awe,” he said. “Obviously you hate to see anyone die.”

Tom Myers stopped by the house early Monday to get a closer look at the remains of his brother’s home. He walked slowly through the yard, stopping occasionally to look through open windows and doors.

Tom Myers said he had trouble believing a plane had actually crashed into his brother’s house.

“(Steve Myers) said ‘hey, a plane crashed into my house.’ He said over and over ‘everything is gone,’” Tom Myers said. “I couldn’t believe it, it’s unbelievable. What a mess.”

Tom Myers said he was “a little chocked up” at the sight of the plane wreckage on top of the house. He said he was glad his brother and sister-in-law weren’t home because they often spend Sunday afternoons watching NASCAR in the living room below where the plane hit the house.

  Investigators from the NTSB arrived in Biddeford Monday afternoon to view the wreckage before it was removed from the house with a crane. In the hour before that work began, firefighters brought salvageable items from the house.

Firefighters carried from the home two nightstands, a jewelry box, clothing, a gun safe, a collection of collectible beer steins, a mounted deer head and other items. Kim Myers said firefighters also found two lock boxes containing important documents. A memoriam card for her late aunt was found still tucked in the frame of a bedroom mirror.

As a crowd of about 100 people watched, NTSB investigators were lifted over the house on a ladder truck to take photos of the wreckage. Crews then strapped chains around the remains of the plane to lift it onto a waiting flatbed truck.

The twisted wreckage hung over the house, swaying slightly as crews moved the flatbed truck into place. Spectators took photos throughout the process, as did the family members surrounding Kim and Steve Myers.

Etcher, the NTSB investigator, said the wreckage was taken to Biddeford Municipal Airport. Investigators will spend months looking at the plane, air traffic control records and other information to determine the cause of the crash, he said.

Etcher said the NTSB will release a preliminary report in about 10 days.

The pilot was flying under visual flight rules and did not need to file a flight plan because of the good weather, Etcher said. The pilot was in communication with air traffic controllers in Portland, but contact was lost when the plane crashed, said Paul Bradbury, director of Portland International Jetport. 

The pilot did not make a distress call.

McCausland said the State Fire Marshal’s Office is assisting the medical examiner with the positive identification of the pilot. He said investigators may need to use DNA to help identify the pilot.