A DAD has been killed after his plane crashed and erupted into a fireball just feet from houses.
Jason McKenzie, 45, has been hailed a hero after using his piloting skills to avoid hurting anyone else as his jet plunged to the ground.
FacebookJason McKenzie, pictured with his wife and son, was killed in a plane crash[/caption]
The aircraft crashed close to housesWJBF
He was returning to an airfield in Georgia when his plane smashed to the ground in a fiery wreckage on Thursday morning.
Shocking pictures show his aircraft reduced to a raging inferno just outside two mansions.
Emergency workers believe McKenzie, an associate director of philanthropy at Augusta University, used his skills as a pilot to ensure no one else was killed or injured.
Neighbour Lisa Lewis told WRDW: “I think it was a miracle.
“I think the Lord protected everyone else.”
McKenzie had taken off from Daniel Field and was heading towards New Haven, Connecticut, when his Beechcraft Bonanza A36 went down.
The single-engine jet was just half a mile from the airport when it crashed on Hillcrest Avenue between two homes.
National Transportation Safety Board investigator Ralph Hicks said: “It’s very fortunate that this airplane didn’t hit a house.”