The Scottsdale plane crash on a golf course Monday left behind eerie videos circulating on social media of the six people who were killed, getting all strapped in and smiling minutes before the fiery accident.
The crash happened 8:45 p.m., about a mile away and a minute after the Piper PA-24 prop plane took off from Scottsdale Airport, KPHO-TV reported. It went down at the TPC Scottsdale Champions Golf Course.
The plane was headed for Las Vegas and pilot James Pedroza didn’t indicate he was having any trouble in his final call before the crash, KPHO-TV said.
Besides Pedroza, the victims were identified as Erik Valente, 26; Mariah Sunshine Coogan, 23; Anand Anil Patel, 28; Helena Lagos, 22; and Iris Carolina Rodriguez Garcia, 23, KVOA-TV reported.
The victims apparently had been in the area attending the Phoenix Lights Festival, an electronic dance music festival, KVOA-TV said, and several of them had sizable social media followings.
Pedroza had more than 12,000 followers on Instagram.
"Last night the world took James Pedroza from us in a plane crash," a message on his Instagram page said Tuesday. "There were also thought to be five other beautiful souls on board. James had a wide network of friends and loved ones. We are all in shock over this tragedy and have no words."
People magazine said Coogan, a model, had 28,000 followers on Instagram and Patel had more than 44,000 followers on his Instagram page.
Jeremy Gail posted two short videos on Facebook that appeared to have been taken just before the airplane took off.
The Arizona Republic reported investigators were trying to determine if the small airplane was capable of carrying as many people as it did.
"Right now, it's something we're trying to find out," Eliott Simpson, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said in a news briefing.
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