Federal officials are in Leon County to investigate Wednesday night's plane crash that claimed the life of the pilot and destroyed a house.

FAA and NTSB Investigators are both on the scene inspecting the crash site.

According to officials, the body of the pilot, Paul Valois of Vermont, will remain in the wreckage. Both will stay in what's left of the house for the next 5 days. The wreckage will eventually be taken to Dallas for further investigation. It could be up to a year before the results of that investigation are released.

It was a scene no one in this airport community wanted to see.

"The fuel tanks obviously just burst and it was a big ball of fire," said John Neukom, a Hilltop Lakes resident.

Neukom was looking forward to seeing an out-of-state friend and fellow pilot.

"I came down to help him land, I heard him coming in," said Neukom.

However, the lights on the private runway at Hilltop Lakes Airport, in Leon County, weren't working. Residents say lightning was responsible for the problem.

"We'd have to go down to the south end of the field to flip a switch and turn the lights on and we were in the process of doing that when the crash happened," said Neukom.

Friends said Valois was circling in his single-engine Cessna, when Neukom says he watched his friend's plane clip a tree, and cartwheel into a home on Golfview Drive.

"It was fully engulfed at that point and I broke down one door and tried to go in and just couldn't do it," said Neukom. "I was just worried about trying to get Paul out and there just wasn't any getting him."

No one was in the home at the time of the crash. Firefighters said the house was a total loss.

Neukom said it was a sad ending to what was supposed to be the beginning of a new chapter. "They were just looking forward to retiring and moving to Hilltop Lakes."

Hilltop Lakes firefighters said this is the first fatal crash at the airport in ten years. According to neighborhood's website, the runway at Hilltop Lakes is private and does not have to meet FAA standards.