Texas Plane Crash: Five killed after small plane crashed at high speed near Austin

Five people were killed late Thursday when a small plane crashed near ‌Austin, Texas, local authorities said Friday.

The Hayes County Homeland Security and Emergency Management office said emergency personnel ‌responded to the scene and added preliminary information indicates the aircraft was traveling at a high rate of speed at the time of impact.

A pilot said he and other Cessna pilots were flying there together, according to Air Traffic Control audio.

“I haven't heard anything from him,” the pilot says on the recording.

A controller responded that "he started to move erratically, and now his track has disappeared from the scope. So we want to make sure everything's all right with him.”

The Federal Aviation Administration said the Cessna 421C crashed around 11:25 p.m. with five people on board.

The agency said a second aircraft traveling in the vicinity around the time of the crash landed safely in New Braunfels.

According to the flight history, the plane took off from Amarillo, Texas, about two hours earlier and was headed to New Braunfels National Airport.

Officials said preliminary information indicates the plane was traveling at a high rate of speed when it crashed.

Wimberley, with a population of about 3,000, is a popular tourist and hiking destination in the Texas Hill Country next to the Blanco River.

According to the National Weather Service, it was mostly cloudy in the New Braunfels area shortly before the crash, but there was a thunderstorm two hours later.

Additionally, a pilot in the area also confirmed the troubled plane's locator emergency device had emitted a distress signal.

Wimberley Mayor Jim Chiles told The Associated Press early Friday that he did not have any information about the crash.

While the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board said they will investigate the crash.