A small plane crashes near Homestead airport

A small plane landed hard, bouncing along Runway 36 at Homestead General Aviation Airport Monday afternoon, before stopping near a canal, federal officials said.

A separated tire could be spotted about six feet from the plane, which also was split in the front.

A Miami-Dade Fire spokeswoman confirmed that two people on board were taken to the hospital — one of whom was airlifted as a trauma alert. The plane went down at about 4:45 p.m. at 28700 SW 217th Ave., at the Homestead airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday the Piper PA/28 had only two people on board.

Greg Chin, a spokesman for Miami-Dade Aviation Department, said the plane was coming from Miami Executive Airport.

Investigators were there into the night collecting evidence on what may have caused the fixed single-engine plane to go down.

According to FAA records, the plane, which was built in 1966, was registered to Sandy and Santiago Gonzalez.

This story was originally published May 16, 2016 at 5:59 PM with the headline "A small plane crashes near Homestead airport."