LAS VEGAS -- Three people are dead after a small airplane crashed into a Las Vegas home early Friday morning, reported KVVU-TV in Las Vegas.

Authorities said an experimental aircraft with one person aboard crashed into a house and sparked a fire near the North Las Vegas Airport in southern Nevada.

According to preliminary reports, the pilot and one person in the house were killed, said Deputy North Las Vegas Fire Chief Kevin Brame. A third person, who was a resident in the house, was taken to University Medical Center in critical condition, where the person later died, North Las Vegas police said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the rear-propeller Velocity 173 RG aircraft crashed at 6:28 a.m. local time, shortly after taking off from the North Las Vegas airport.

He said the male pilot radioed that he wasn't gaining altitude and was going to crash moments before the aircraft hit the house.

Police said the crash caused a blaze that engulfed the residence. Firefighters have since knocked down the fire, KVVU reported.

An experimental aircraft is usually produced by someone from a kit, police said.

Gregor said he doesn't know who was piloting the aircraft. It was certified for flight in 2002 and was owned by a Las Vegas resident.

North Las Vegas Airport is the second busiest airport in Nevada, averaging about 650 flights a day.

Last year, the North Las Vegas Airport was listed as the most dangerous airport in the U.S. by Forbes.com. Since 2001, Forbes.com said the airport has had 663 wrecks, which Clark County aviation officials have been attempting to dispute.