A 67-year-old Spokane man was found dead after a plane crash was reported in the Rose Lake area Sunday night. 

John T. Lippis was the pilot and lone occupant in the 1980 fixed-wing, single-engine plane classified as an "experimental" aircraft, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office. Experimental planes are built by amateurs.

Mike Lippis, the pilot's son, said on scene this morning that his father has flown planes for several years. He owned the one that crashed for about a year.

"He was getting some practice in before flying it to Denver," Mike Lippis said. "He lived a life of integrity."

John Lippis owned a small auto repair business in Spokane.

The crash was found about 50 feet from a home at 13778 S. Beaver Road in thick brush and trees on a ridge between Rose Lake and Cataldo. No one was home at the time of the crash.

"I've been praying for the family all morning about it," said Barbara Pennington, who lives at the residence. "We'll put a cross back there (at the crash scene) for them."

The plane crashed a few feet behind a boat and guest house on the property.

The pilot had taken off from an air strip in Shoshone County, investigators said.

A neighbor reported hearing what sounded like a plane crash at 7:30 p.m.

At 10:50 p.m., with the assistance of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office’s Air One Unit the crash scene was located. Medstar, a helicopter with medics, was also called upon and was unable to find the crash.

Representatives from the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash to determine the cause.

Idaho State Police, Shoshone County EMS and the Rose Lake Quick Response Unit also responded to the crash.