A former Microsoft executive and his teenage son were among the up to six people killed when their small plane crashed into a residential neighborhood, engulfing two houses in flames, the victim's brother said Saturday.
Bill Henningsgaard and his teenage son, Maxwell, were traveling the East Coast to visit colleges, and Connecticut was part of the itinerary, said Blair Henningsgaard, the city attorney in Astoria, Ore. He said the family learned it was Bill Henningsgaard's plane through the tail number.
Officials said Friday they were reports of two or three people on the plane and two or three victims on the ground in the working-class East Haven neighborhood, and the total dead was likely between four and six. The victims of the crash have not been identified by authorities.
"We haven't recovered anybody at this point, and we presume there is going to be a very bad outcome," East Haven fire Chief Douglas Jackson said Friday.
Late Friday, officials from a number of agencies were still at the scene. Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said rescuers had spotted two bodies, including one of an adult, but hadn't recovered them.
CTNow.com reports two children, ages 1 and 13, were believed to be in the home at the time of the crash. The children's mother was also reportedly in the home, but escaped. 
Bill Henningsgaard was a member of Seattle-based Social Venture Partners, a foundation that helps build up communities. The foundation extended its condolences to his wife and two daughters. 
"There are hundreds of people that have a story about Bill -- when he went the extra mile, when he knew just the right thing to say, how he would never give up. He was truly all-in for this community, heart, mind and soul," the foundation posted Friday on its website
The multi-engine, propeller-driven plane struck the small homes while trying to land in rainy weather at Tweed New Haven Airport.
Firefighters found both homes engulfed in flames when they arrived. The aircraft's left wing lodged in one house and its right wing in the other.
Mayor Joseph Maturo said later that the houses were still unstable and crews had not completed a full search.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the Rockwell International Turbo Commander 690B aircraft flew out of Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and crashed as it approached Tweed New Haven at 11:25 a.m. Friday.
Neighbor David Esposito said he heard a loud noise and then a thump. "No engine noise, nothing," he said.
He also said he heard a woman screaming that her children were inside the burning home. He said he ran into the upstairs of the house, where the woman believed her children were, but they could not find them. They returned downstairs to search, but he dragged the woman out when the flames became too strong.
Frank Diglio, 55, told the Hartford Courant that he was driving nearby and pulled over when he saw people screaming and crying. Diglio said he and another man tried digging through the room to find the children, but were forced to leave after 10 minutes when the fire at the house became intense.
"The plane was burning slow and then it started really burning," he told the newspaper. "The fire engines arrived in like 10 minutes. They came real quick and they told us all to move. The house got really out of control."
Police cordoned off the area, and smoke could be seen rising from between the two houses. Parts of the plane's wing were visible in the wreckage and a portion of the roof of one of the houses had collapsed, Reuters reported.
Tweed's airport manager, Lori Hoffman-Soares, said the pilot had been in communication with air traffic control and did not issue any distress calls.
"All we know is that it missed the approach and continued on. There were no distress calls as far as we know," she said.
Another neighbor, Pablo Arenas, said he and his neighbors live in fear of the planes. He said some pilots appear to be novices in training, while others said planes often fly low and larger aircraft have begun using the airport in recent years.
Maturo, the mayor, said a priest was with the woman whose children were feared dead, and he offered sympathy to the family.
"It's total devastation in the back of the home," he said.
Neighbors said the woman moved into the neighborhood recently.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.