A small plane crashed shortly after takeoff, killing a family of four Saturday in Texas, according to the Comal County Sheriff's Office, KENS, San Antonio reported. The single-engine Piper PA-24 took off from Kestrel Air Park outside of San Antonio and crashed early in the afternoon.

The pilot and three passengers were identified as pilot Michael Scott Galloway, 38, his wife Heather Louise Galloway, 32, son Clayton T. Galloway, 10, and daughter Cheyenne Elizabeth Galloway, 8, the Associated Press reported.

Witnesses said a family of four was seen putting gas in the plane shortly before the crash, KENS said. The plane came down in a grassy area next to a feed store parking lot, sheriff's Capt. Tommy Ward said, according to the AP. Aside from the fatalities on the plane, no other casualties or damage was reported.

Federal Aviation Administration investigators are on their way to the scene, and the National Transportation Safety Board was to open an investigation Sunday.

A similar crash occurred earlier this month in Georgia. A small plane -- a Piper-PA 32 -- crashed on a highway outside Atlanta, killing all four people aboard. Cars along the highway saw the plane come down, which later caused massive traffic jams as the situation was resolved. A father, two sons and a woman -- the family identified as Christopher Byrd, Phillip Byrd, Greg Byrd by WSB-TV, Atlanta -- were the victims of the crash that also happened shortly after takeoff. The group was reportedly on its way to a graduation ceremony at the University of Mississippi. The crash along the highway produced a powerful explosion.

"The impact was large, like a bomb being dropped," witness Don McGee told WSB.

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