A small plane crashed on Friday at 1:15 p.m. at the intersection of Hayenhurst Avenue and Vanowen Street in Lake Balboa, Los Angeles. The accident closed the area while an investigation, expected to last throughout the evening, is ongoing. Residents were advised to avoid the crash site.

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While the aircraft did not hit a car or building and did not burst into flame, the lone person inside, the pilot, died instantly, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

It actually almost hit vehicles and structures before it crashlanded on the busy intersection. The plane left from Van Nuys Airport and was just airborne for one minute and then dived. A witness said the jet was spiraling, while people on the street were screaming, before it hit the pavement, produced a loud boom and then scattered into pieces.

Alberto Enrique Behar, the 47-year-old pilot, was a NASA scientist who had worked on two Mars missions, including the Mars Curiosity Rover expedition that determined there once was water on the surface of Mars.

He teaches at the Arizona State University's School of Earth & Space Exploration and uses the single-engine Lancair jet to go to the campus and return home to Scottsdale, Arizona, according to a friend.

His LinkedIn profile said Behar was an investigation scientist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena since 1991. He was working on robotic system for planetary exploration, according to Daily News.

Behar was a doctorate degree holder in electrical engineering and master's degree holder in computer science from the University of Southern California.

The National Transport Safety Board is still probing the cause of the aircraft crash, assisted by the LAPD.

TagsVan Nuys, LA Plane Crash, Alberto Behar