[chris]

Three men were killed when a single-engine plane crashed and burst into flames at a Monroe, Michigan, park on March 29, 2011, moments after witnesses said the pilot appeared to steer the aircraft away from a playground and tennis courts crowded with children.

The plane went down about 4 p.m. at Munson Park, next to the city's Custer Airport, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. Witnesses told local television stations the aircraft was flying low and erratically, with a wing dipped toward the ground, before it hit an open field and caught fire. A column of black smoke rose over the park.

Callers reported the burning wreckage to 911 as people filled the park on a spring afternoon. Members of a St. Mary's Catholic Central tennis team were warming up roughly 100 yards from the point of impact, and a nearby play area was in use at the time.

The sheriff's office identified the dead as the pilot, Rick E. Howell, 58, of LaSalle, Michigan, and passengers Nathan Brahier, 30, of Fremont, Ohio, and Jeremy Tate, 40, of Oregon, Ohio. Brahier and Tate were employees of Conforming Matrix Corp. The three were returning from a business meeting in Pennsylvania when the plane came down near its home field.

Residents who lived near Munson Park described Howell as a hero, telling reporters he seemed to bank the failing plane away from the tennis courts, nearby homes and a play area full of children in the seconds before it crashed.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board investigated. In a finding released in December 2012, the NTSB reported that a propeller struck the ground as Howell made a low pass over the airport in the six-seat Piper, and it attributed the crash to the pilot's decision to attempt the maneuver. Investigators said toxicology testing detected hydrocodone in Howell's blood, though they added that its role in the crash could not be determined.