CATALDO - As Mark Pennington looked over the plane that just missed his rural Kootenai County home when it crashed Sunday night, the teen reflected on how stunning the accident was.

John T. Lippis, 67, Spokane, the pilot and lone occupant of the 1980 fixed-wing, single-engine "experimental" (amateur-built) plane, died in the crash at 13778 S. Beaver Road on a ridge between Rose Lake and Cataldo.

"The last moments of his life were spent on that plane," Pennington said softly. "I can't imagine it."

The two-seat plane crashed in thick brush and trees about 50 feet from the home and 10 feet behind a boat and guest house on the property.

Although no one was home at the time of the crash, Pennington said the plane would likely have caused heavy property damage if it had struck the house. He said it's bizarre that a plane crashed next to the home in the country.

"It's not every day that you have a plane crash in your backyard," he said.

Mike Lippis, the pilot's son, said on scene on Monday 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 and his sons, Dan and Mike, founded Swedish Motorcar Service in Spokane in 1991. The company specializes in Saab repairs. John had serviced Saabs for more than 40 years.

"He took exceptional care of his customers," Lippis said of his father. "He was generous and always helping others."

Barbara Pennington, who lives at the residence where the crash occurred, consoled Mike Lippis after he arrived on Monday morning to see the wreck.

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

Neighbors reported hearing what sounded like a plane crash at 7:45 p.m. Sunday.

"Indications are that Lippis had taken off from the Shoshone County airport at an unknown time in the afternoon (on Sunday) to do some recreational flying in the area," a Kootenai County Sheriff's Office press release states.

Lippis has a hangar at the airport and regularly flew around Shoshone County in the evenings, investigators said.

The KCSO, Idaho State Police, Shoshone County EMS, the Rose Lake Quick Response Unit and Medstar helicopter responded to search for the plane.

At 10:50 p.m., with the assistance of the Spokane County Sheriff's Office's Air One Unit, the crash scene was located.

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

Larry Lewis, NTSB air safety investigator, said it could take several days to piece together what happened. Such small planes don't have black boxes to help investigators understand what happened in the moments before the crash.

He said he planned to interview witnesses and personnel from the airport where Lippis took off. Plane and pilot records will also be reviewed.

"We're still in the preliminary stages of the investigation," Lewis said.

All of the parts of the plane were at the crash scene, making Lewis believe it didn't fall apart in the air.

Lewis said that since much of the foliage around the plane appeared to be undisturbed, it appeared the plane had a vertical descent before the crash.

A camera was recovered from the plane, but investigators didn't say whether it offers any clues as to what happened.

The Kootenai County Coroner's Office has requested an autopsy.