NATCHEZ &045; A single-engine plane sputtered and crashed seconds after taking off from the Natchez-Adams Airport, killing three people and injuring another.

The pilot, Vincent J. Lewis, 56; his granddaughter Jessi Marie Harris, 10; and Victoria Spiers, 10, all of Wichita Falls, Texas, died in the crash.

Carmen Hastings, 33 and also of Wichita Falls, suffered severe injuries and was transported by helicopter to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson for treatment. Spiers was Hastings’ daughter. The two girls were close friends.

Officials said Hastings was in critical condition at the medical center as of Saturday night.

Witnesses told Adams County deputies that the plane, a Mooney M20, took off shortly before 11 a.m. from runway 31.

The plane was between 100 and 200 feet off the ground when it abruptly banked to the left and crashed nose first into the ground. The plane, a small single-engine retractable landing gear craft, spun after slamming into an embankment about 100 feet from the runway, breaking off its propeller and smashing the front of the fuselage into the victims.

Witnesses said it sounded as if the plane’s engine stalled shortly before it crashed.

Lewis and Hastings were in the plane’s front seats. Spiers and Harris were in the back seat of the four-seat plane.

It was the first fatal crash in more than 20 years at the Natchez airport and the first incident of any kind in more than two years, airport Executive Director Clint Pomeroy said.

Adams County Coroner James Lee said the three victims died instantly after sustaining serious trauma.

&uot;They had severe head injuries, spinal cord injuries and massive internal bleeding,&uot; Lee said.

Hastings suffered similar but somewhat less severe injuries, Lee said.

After being alerted by witnesses who saw the crash, airport workers took the airport’s fire truck to the crash and attempted to help the victims. The plane did not catch on fire, though Pomeroy said a considerable amount of fuel was spilled at the crash site.

Adams County Sheriff Ronny Brown said his office received a 911 call at 10:53 a.m., just minutes after the crash. Deputies, medical personnel and firefighters were dispatched immediately.

Lewis, Harris and Spiers had no pulse when medical personnel arrived, but Hastings was conscious and spoke to emergency personnel at the scene before being airlifted to Jackson, Brown said.

Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration arrived on the scene about 3 p.m. Saturday to look at the crash site and begin the process of determining what happened to make the plane crash, Pomeroy said.

Deputies secured the area shortly after the victims were removed in order to preserve evidence.

&uot;The FAA hasn’t said anything yet, and they won’t until they know something,&uot; Pomeroy said. &uot;They’re just making observations right now.&uot;

FAA official Melvin Athey said a special team from Miami was arriving Saturday night to begin the investigation. A team from the National Travel Safety Board was also scheduled to arrive Saturday night.

Pomeroy said a media briefing would be given today by those teams to update the situation. The NTSB investigates any plane crash involving fatalities.

Lewis, Harris and Hastings flew in from Wichita Falls Saturday morning to pick up Spiers, who had been visiting with her grandparents, Jimmy and Vickie Spiers, in Meadville. The plane landed shortly after 10 a.m., and they picked up Spiers and refueled the plane.

The girls were best friends, family

members in Wichita Falls said.

Hastings, a substitute teacher, has a husband and son who were on their way to be with her in Jackson Saturday. Lewis, a businessman who did accounting work, had four children and eight grandchildren. He got his pilot’s license about two years ago, family members said.

Brown said he found it especially difficult to deal with the crash since it involved the death of two children.

&uot;This is the hardest part of job

&045;

when you find somebody who’s deceased or shot themselves or something,&uot; Brown said. &uot;The worst part is notifying the family, and when it involves kids, it’s tough on everybody out there. Everybody just does their job and thinks about it later. It was a perfect day and then it ends that way in tragedy.&uot;

Pomeroy said weather conditions were fine at the time the plane took off, with clear skies, 10-mile visibility and a 6-knot wind.

Airport staff checked the airplane fuel from the truck that had refueled the plane as part of normal procedure.

&uot;We document the weather and take fuel samples whenever a crash occurs,&uot; Pomeroy said. &uot;I was just verifying the fuel to make sure we can continue using it.&uot;