Killed were Thomas Blake, 55, and his wife, Paulette Blake, 64, police Lt. Paul Honeman said. The couple split their time between living in Homer in the summer and in Pahrump, Nev. during the winter, he said.
Their Cessna 206 lost engine power immediately after taking off from the airport Wednesday morning, prompting Thomas Blake to turn in an attempt to return for a landing.
The aircraft tumbled out of the sky and into a vacant City Electric Inc., building. No one on the ground was injured, but the airplane was destroyed in a ball of flames.
Identification of the Blakes had been delayed because investigators were waiting for dental records to arrive from Nevada, Honeman said.
The cause of the power loss and crash is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.