Plane hits house in Chicago; pilot missing

Two elderly people inside the home were not hurt but the location of the pilot is not known at this time. The plane went through the roof and landed in the living room. Part of the plane is also in the basement where fire crews are searching for the pilot.

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The pilot of the twin-engine cargo plane was dead on the scene, but it took firefighters hours to shore up the home and recover the body of Eric Quentin Howlett, 47. "The floor of the living room collapsed into the basement," said Chicago fire Chief Michael Fox.

Howlett was the only person aboard when the plane crashed into the Rolinskases' home in the 6500 block of South Knox Avenue shortly after taking off from Midway around 2:45 a.m., aviation officials said.

He was still circling the airport when he radioed the air traffic tower that he had an emergency and was trying to make it to any of the three runways aligned southeast to northwest, an air traffic control source said. “The tower cleared him to land on any runway and then watched him go down as he was maneuvering," the source said.

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