Two people died after a small private plane crashed near Centennial Airport on Friday.

Both people were on board a 1963 Beechcraft P35 that crashed about a half mile southeast of the airport just before 6:30 a.m. Friday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. 

South Metro Fire Rescue and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office listed the crash as fatal on social media Friday morning. The single-engine V-tail aircraft crashed in an industrial complex near the 8600 block of South Peoria Street, fire rescue said.

Authorities were first notified of a plane crash resulting in an explosion with visible smoke and flames, the DCSO confirmed Friday morning.

Upon arrival, responders found the plane on the ground, engulfed in fire near a bank of commercial generators. 

Crews were able to contain the fire, but had not yet confirmed where the plane was going, where it was coming from, or the relationship between the two individuals on board, officials said.

Audio obtained by The Denver Gazette revealed the air traffic controller repeatedly calling the pilot of the aircraft.

Another plane in the area, reporting to the Centennial Airport tower: “Tower, there’s smoke off the left side, looks like he went down.” 

“It appears he appears to have crashed in a parking lot about a mile southeast of the field,” the pilot adds. 

“If you can hear this transmission, we have emergency crews coming to you,” the controller said.

Investigators from South Metro Fire Rescue said the location where the aircraft crashed was of initial concern, as the large commercial generators use diesel fuel as a backup source of energy.

“We arrived on scene, just south of the Centennial Airport, and did find a single-engine aircraft fully involved with a structure that was threatened and a large bank of generators that were also threatened,” SMFR spokesperson Brian Willie said at an early morning news conference at the accident scene.

Firefighters were able to get water on both the aircraft and the generators, subduing the fire.

“There was no damage to the generators or the building that was threatened, and there were no other people involved and no other issues involved in this incident,” Willie said.

Investigators are unsure of what the aircraft initially hit at this time.

It’s unclear if the aircraft was configured for takeoff or landing, according to airport officials, but audio from the control tower suggests the pilot may have been attempting to land.

Officials have described weather conditions at the time of the incident as “lightly spitting rain.”

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the accident, according to a statement from the FAA.

The NTSB will lead the investigation.

The Douglas County Coroner has also been advised and will release identifications once autopsies are complete and next of kin have been notified, a spokesperson for the DCSO said.

Officials are asking the public for help, encouraging any eyewitnesses or nearby businesses with video to email eyewitness@ntsb.gov.

Since the crash happened off of airport property, airport operations were not affected Friday and no runways were closed. 

This is the second fatal plane crash in the metro Denver area in less than a week. One person was killed and three were injured when two small planes collided midair as they tried to land at an airport near Fort Morgan in northeastern Colorado last weekend.

In June of 2021, two people and a dog died in a plane crash after hitting Xcel Energy power lines and crashing in Lone Tree.

The plane was on approach to Centennial Airport in Englewood after departing from Neosho, Missouri, according to the FAA.

In 2015, a Pipistrel Virus, a light sport aircraft, crashed in a grassy field, also southeast of Centennial Airport.  

Denver Gazette reporter Michael Braithwaite contributed to this report.