Small plane wheels into North Carolina restaurant

A small plane crashed into the front entrance of a barbecue restaurant in North Carolina Friday morning, killing one person, believed to be the pilot.

Photo: Small plane wheels into North Carolina restaurant

According to witnesses, the crash did not hurt any employees at McCall's BBQ & Seafood Restaurant, which had yet to open.

"The front is completely gone," said Rhonda Hobbs, who lives behind the restaurant. "The plane is all the way on the inside." The crash around 10 a.m. "shook the house," she said.

Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta, said officials are only aware of one person killed. Johnston County spokesman Pat LaCarter said that although he could not confirm it was the pilot who died, all employees at the restaurant had been accounted for and that only one person was believed to have been on the plane.

Bergen said the plane was a single-engine Navion built in 1947, registered in Chantilly, Virginia. Bergen said officials do not believe there was a flight plan.

The plane "was a smaller airplane, flying low, out of controlled airspace," Bergen said.