http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/456338 Feb. 14, 2000, 11:34PM

Plane strikes houses; no injuries reported By LISA TEACHEY Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle

PEARLAND -- A single-engine airplane ran out of gas and crashed here Monday night, hitting two houses, but injuring no one seriously.

The pilot, not identified, was reportedly hurt but able to walk away after crashing his Beechcraft four-seater in the Crystal Lake subdivision about 9:30 p.m. No one else was in the plane, and he was taken away in an ambulance, sitting up, with a collar on his neck.

The plane clipped the top of one house, damaging the roof and a child's bedroom, then hit another house before coming to rest, badly mangled, but not burning. No one was hurt in either house.

The owner of the first house, Matt Huddleston, 1203 Sandpiper Court North, said he, his wife and 4-year-old son were upstairs playing on a computer when they heard a loud noise and rushed to the room, on the same floor, where their 18-month-old son was sleeping.

"When I walked into the room, half the (outside) wall was gone, but the baby was OK. All you could see was a big hole," Huddleston said.

They grabbed the child and called 911, though unsure exactly what had happened until a neighbor told them.

Authorities said the pilot was from Austin and wanted to land at Hobby. He missed his first two approaches, and after a third miss ran out of gas and crashed.

Huddleston said he asked the pilot to come in and sit down, but he declined. The pilot appeared to have a broken nose, and was dazed and confused, Huddleston said.

Neighbors said they could see the plane's lights, though the night was very foggy, then heard the crash.

Tim Quick, who lives in the neighborhood, said, "All I could see was lights going through my back yard, then I heard a loud boom."

-- charlie (cml@workmail.com), February 15, 2000