"The initial point of impact was a runway light stanchion located about 1,800 feet from the runway threshold," said Senior Air Safety Investigator Dan Baker. "The airplane subsequently impacted trees, two other runway light stanchions and the airport perimeter fence short of the runway threshold before coming to rest near the runway threshold."

A small plane crashed while landing at the Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina on Thursday morning, officials said.

The National Transportation Safety Board has examined whether those lights could have made it more difficult for the helicopter crew to keep tabs on the plane and whether night vision goggles it believes the crew was using could have made their difficult task even more challenging.

A hijacked plane crashed at Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles after a suspect reportedly broke into a flight school building. The FBI responded to the early morning incident.

A small plane crashed into a residential complex in Nashua, New Hampshire on Wednesday afternoon. The Velocity V-Twin crashed shortly after departing Nashua Airport around 2:10 p.m., according to the FAA.

The U.S. government has conceded failures on the part of pilots and an air traffic controller at Reagan National Airport that led to the deadly mid-air crash over the Potomac River in January that took the lives of 67 people, according to a new court filing.