LOS ANGELES _ Authorities identified the pilot whose plane crashed into a Yorba Linda home Sunday, killing four people inside, as 75-year-old Antonio Pastini.
Investigators with the National Transportation and Safety Board said Pastini was a retired Chicago police officer. They are in the process of gathering information about his flight experience, medical records and plane maintenance records.
The names of two women and two men who were in the Orange County home where Pastini's plane erupted have not been identified. Authorities said identifying the bodies would take time and require DNA testing.
On Monday, investigators with the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration continued probing the scene, gathering pieces of aircraft scattered across four blocks in the residential neighborhood to transport to a Phoenix storage facility, where they will be examined.
So far, investigators know the plane took off from Fullerton Municipal Airport around 1:35 p.m., took a left turn and flew for about 10 miles before beginning its steep descent. By 1:45 p.m., the plane had crashed into a house, engulfing it in flames.
NTSB officials said witnesses saw the plane, still in one piece, coming through the clouds. Then the plane's tail came off, followed by its wings.
The damage to surrounding homes was significant.
At one residence, a piece of the plane's engine knocked down a pillar on the front porch and torpedoed through a first-floor window, flying through two rooms before landing in a bathroom. Fragments of exhaust pipe crashed through a second-floor window of the home and melted into the carpet. A propeller thumped onto the driveway.
Joshua Nelson, 28, said he was about to take a nap when he heard a shrill whistling sound and a loud bang outside his home on Crestknoll Drive. He hopped out of bed, ran out the front door and saw a plume of black smoke.
He saw a propeller had landed in front of a home, smashing windows. The main cabin of the plane landed in a ravine behind another house.
Residents spilled out of their homes in the quiet neighborhood to look at the flame-engulfed house and the collateral destruction around them.
In a video shot by Nelson, the home could be heard crackling and popping. A man several doors away from the flames was hosing down a piece of aircraft that was on fire. "Get away! Get away from the house!" a man shouted at residents.
Two people suffered moderate burns and a firefighter had a minor ankle injury.
