Dana Gray, Jerry Gray and Tony Gray dead after small plane crashes in Ace Hardware parking lot near Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas

Three people were killed when a small plane crashed near Hobby Airport Thursday afternoon, according to the Houston Fire Department.

A witness, Nicole Andrews, told KPRC 2 that she was stopped in traffic on Telephone when she saw the plane on top of what appeared to be a black Honda Accord in the parking lot of an Ace Hardware store. . 

No one was inside the car, fire officials said.

Initial information suggests the plane is a fixed wing single-engine aircraft made by the Cirrus Design Group, Model - SR20. It is registered by Safe Aviation LLC in Moore, Oklahoma.

The single-engine Cirrus SR-20 aircraft took off from Norman, Oklahoma, around 10:11 a.m. CDT and was trying to land at Hobby Airport when an air traffic controller told the pilot the plane was too high and asked it to go around, said NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson. Witnesses said the plane appeared to have fallen from the sky and dropped to the ground.

"They're a fast, powerful airplane, but it's well constructed," said Hal Harris, a flight instructor at AirOne Flight Academy with more than 40 years of experience. "If they have the proper training and just fly the airplane the way it's supposed to be done, it's a safe airplane."

Audio recordings released just after a plane crash claimed the lives of three Oklahomans is giving investigators a better idea of what happened in the minutes leading up to the deadly crash.

It's unclear whether the pilot made a distress call just before the crash that happened Thursday afternoon near Hobby Airport, NTSB investigator Tom Latson said, and that initial information indicates the female pilot didn't make any other calls to air traffic controllers after she waved off the third landing attempt.

"They were just probably the most caring family that I know. I mean that's why so many people know them. They would do anything for anyone on several different levels in the community,” Sgt. Lewis said.

"It showed that the aircraft was relatively nose level and relatively wings level spinning counter clockwise to the left at the moment of impact," NTSB Investigator Tom Latson said.

Hundreds gathered together Saturday afternoon in Crossroads Church for a somber remembrance of three lives cut short.