Ex-Microsoft manager, son from Seattle killed in Conn. plane crash

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EAST HAVEN, Conn. -- Former Microsoft manager Bill Henningsgaard and his son, both of Seattle, were killed Friday when the small plane Henningsgaard was piloting crashed into a house as he was trying to land at the Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport.

Bill Henningsgaard (Photo: Facebook)

Henningsgaard's plane struck one home before crashing into a second at 11:22 a.m., with a family inside. Two children, ages 1 and 13, are believed to have died in the home. Their mother survived.

The Daily Astorian, of Astoria, Ore., said Henningsgaard was a former upper-level manager at Microsoft in sales and marketing and the acting executive director and board chairman of Eastside Pathways, a Bellevue institute. He is the son of former Astoria, Ore., Mayor Edith Henningsgaard-Miller and brother of Blair Henningsgaard, Astoria's city attorney.

He was flying a Rockwell International Turbo Commander 690B turbo prop plane.

The Astorian said that in 2009, Henningsgaard and his mother crashed into the Columbia River following a mechanical problem with the plane he was flying. The two were on their way to Seattle, when the engine died. The Columbia River Bar Pilots rescued the pair, the newspaper said.

He recounted his story of that drama on a blog, www.svpseattle.org

In Connecticut, East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr. said two children -- ages 1 and 13 -- were feared dead in one house, as well as the pilot.

Two bodies have been seen but have not been recovered, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy told reporters.

Maturo said the children were in one house with their mother when the plane struck shortly before 11:30 a.m., Maturo said, adding that the mother escaped.

"It's ... total devastation in the back of the home," Maturo said.

The multi-engine Rockwell International Turbo Commander 690B took off from New Jersey's Teterboro Airport on Friday morning and crashed while approaching the Tweed New Haven Airport around 11:25 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The fuselage entered one of the homes, Malloy said. Video from WTNH showed smoke rising from a heavily damaged house in East Haven, and what appeared to be the tail of a plane nearby.

Fire burned both houses, East Haven Fire Chief Douglas Jackson said.

"We presume there's going to be a very bad outcome for two people believed in the house" and the pilot, Jackson said.

The plane missed its initial approach, an official told reporters at a news conference in the East Haven neighborhood.

--CNN's Cristy Lenz contributed to this report.