FLORENCE, Ky. -- A cargo plane carrying two people crashed into a local golf course early Friday, killing the co-pilot.

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Investigations In Plane Crash Underway Pilot In Plane Crash Treated For Minor Injuries Residents React To Plane Crash

The plane crashed at about 1 a.m. into the sixth hole of the World of Sports Golf Course off Houston Road in Florence.

The plane was on its way to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and missed the runway by less than a mile, WLWT News 5 reported.

Emergency crews said they found the pilot of the plane sitting on a bench, talking to his supervisor on a cell phone, saying that he couldn't find his co-pilot. The 49-year-old pilot is from the Columbus, Ohio, area and was taken to University Hospital, where he was treated for minor scratches and bruises, WLWT reported.

The co-pilot later was located by search crews. He is from Memphis, Tenn., and was pronounced dead by the Boone County Coroner. National Transportation Safety Board investigators arrived Friday morning, and the flight data recorder and cockpit recorder were found and will be sent to Washington, WLWT reported.

"What you can expect today is the National Transportation Safety Board going through and seeing if they can figure out what caused the crash," airport spokesperson Ted Bushelman said.

The plane was found in pieces, and there was a heavy odor of aircraft fuel in the area, officials said.

Residents nearby said they could hear the crash and smell the fuel, WLWT reported.

"Well, I'm real concerned about planes flying over here because sometimes they come down low when they have a low ceiling and clouds are low," Tim Molhem, who works near the crash site, said. "You can see the passengers, they wave to you,"

"I'm very scared because a lot of times we do comment how low the planes fly and often think about if a plane landed close to us," Kohl's employee Cathy Lawson said. "And it was extremely close to us last night."

The plane was carrying cargo for DHL, and was traveling from Memphis to Cincinnati. It was a twin-engine cargo plane that usually carries only two or three people. Its maximum speed is 340 miles per hour and it weighs close to 15,000 pounds, WLWT reported.

The accident caused one runway to close from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., but all runways were open by the afternoon.

Only one lane of Houston Road remained closed in the afternoon, after some major traffic problems in the morning, WLWT reported.

Stay tuned to WLWT News 5 and ChannelCincinnati.com for updates as they become available.