FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A pilot died Friday morning when the small plane he was flying crashed into an Oakland Park house as he tried to return to Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.

The twin-engine 1974 Cessna 421-B hit a home in the 5200 block of Northwest First Avenue, near Commercial Boulevard and Andrews Avenue, at about 11:15 a.m. The area is east of Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.

Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti said the plane took off from the airport just after 11 a.m. en route to Fernandina Beach, Fla., near Jacksonville. The pilot, who was alone on board, was taking the plane there in order to sell it, BSO said.

Lamberti said the plane was east of the airport when the pilot radioed the air traffic control tower to report that he was going to return due to mechanical difficulties and engine problems. Controllers cleared the air traffic and the runway and told the pilot he was clear to return.

The pilot turned the plane west, back toward the airport, Lamberti said. Southeast of the airport, the plane was headed northwest, trying to go back, when it lost altitude, hit a power line and a tree and then crashed into the house.

The impact sliced a gaping hole in the middle of the house, which burst into flames.

Lamberti said the body of the pilot has been recovered. Based on identification in a wallet found with the pilot's body, as well as information from his wife, who dropped him off at the airport, the pilot is tentatively identified as 80-year-old Cecil Alexander Murray, of Tamarac. Positive identification is pending the medical examiner's report.

BSO said no one was inside the house where the plane crashed.

"The fact that he only hit one house, that's an absolute miracle, because the direction he was coming, trying to make his approach to the airport, this could have easily glided, skidded along and taken out multiple houses, and it's a miracle that did not occur," Lamberti said. "The fact that there's only one loss of life, we have to look at that as a saving grace in this catastrophe."

Most of the fire was extinguished by about noon. Fire investigators went in and around the house to make sure the hot spots are totally out.

Lamberti said Murray, who had been a pilot since 1985, was an experienced pilot with 23,000 hours of flying time on a multiengine aircraft. He was certified to fly both single-engine and multiengine aircraft, and the FAA had no record that he had any medical problems.

FAA records list the plane's owner as Sebring Air Charter in Tamarac, a Fort Lauderdale suburb. A message left at a phone number listed on Florida corporate records for one of the charter company's officers was not immediately returned.

Resident Left House 10 Minutes Before Crash

Oscar Nolasco, the owner of the house, said a friend called him at work to tell him about the plane crash. Nolasco said his 17-year-old nephew, Alex Martines, who lives there with him, had left only 10 minutes before the plane hit the house.

Nolasco said he thought it was a joke when authorities called him to tell him about the crash.

He said "everything is gone" at the home and he's staying at a hotel and getting assistance from the Red Cross.

Neighbors said they worry about living so close to Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.

"We live here over 15 years and we always say, 'One day we're going to get it,'" said neighbor Jose Chinov.

A DC-3 cargo plane crashed shortly after takeoff into a residential street near the airport in 2005. The pilot, co-pilot and a passenger all survived. The pilot said at the time they chose the street because it was quiet and wide, and has an abundance of tall palm trees he could run into to slow the plane's speed.

In 2004, a Piper Cherokee crashed into the roof of an auto body shop shortly after takeoff, killing two people on the plane and critically injuring a third.

"They come through this house, go all around, and we say, 'One day one of these planes is going to hit us,'" Chinov said.

On Friday, it happened. Had Martines waited 10 more minutes, the outcome could have been much different.

"Look at this house. Everything's burned," Martines said.

Neighbors Hear Impact, See Billowing Smoke

Shannon James, a witness, said he saw the plane flying from east to west, toward the airport.

"I was with my wife in the truck, and I told her, 'That plane's going sideways.' It actually looked like he was going back to the airport," he said. "It turned the corner, went real low, and I just saw a big puff of black smoke, and we got back in the truck and went around the corner and saw all the wreckage."

James said there was fire all over the ground, across the street.

"It scorched the grass and part of a tree and ripped right through the house," he said.

James captured video of the crash site immediately after the impact with a camcorder.

"You never think you're going to do it, just happened to have the camera. We were on our way to the beach with the baby, just going to make a day down in Miami, and all this stuff just went berserk," he said. "Cops came out everywhere. It was just chaos. All the neighbors were running around. Everybody had their phones out."

Neighbor Vinita Jones was in her home when the crash happened.

"I was in my house, sitting at my laptop computer, and all of a sudden I heard a popping sound. Then, I heard a larger popping sound, and when I heard that, the lights flickered and I said, 'Oh, my gosh,'" Jones said. "I started going from window to window to see what happened and I went to my living room window and there was a big billow of black smoke. I said, 'My God, that house is on fire,' so I went outside. My neighbor was out there, and he said, 'A plane just went down.'"

Jones said her neighbor actually saw the plane crash.

"It was a blue and white, small plane. He said it flipped and went sideways and did a roll, and he thought to himself, 'My God, that plane's going to go down,' and then he saw smoke or fire," Jones said.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.

Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport remained open. The crash was at least the third involving the airport, which caters to small planes and jets, in the last five years.

National Transportation Safety Board records show that Cessna 421s have been involved in 12 fatal accidents since 2004.