EASTON - A flight intended to save a life tragically claimed three on Tuesday.

A Long Island man suffering from cancer, his wife and a pilot were killed when the single-engine aircraft they were flying in nosedived into the parking lot of Hannaford's Supermarket around 10:15 a.m.

The trio were en route to Logan International Airport in Boston, where the man was to undergo treatment at Dana-Faber Cancer Institute.

Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the three were on board the Beechcraft Bonanza plane when it went down in the store's parking lot on Route 106 near the Mansfield line. No one on the ground was injured.

The flight was an "Angel Flight," which carries cancer patients from one hospital to another for specialized treatment. It was the second fatal crash of an Angel Flight plane in less than a month. On July 17, an Angel Flight plane crashed shortly after takeoff near Tampa, Fla., killing all three on board, including a 49-year-old cancer patient, a 15-year-old boy and the 81-year-old pilot.

In a statement, Angel Flight Northeast said it had safely flown more than 53,000 people to medical care on 30,000 flights.

The couple, who The Southhampton, (N.Y.) Press said were from Riverhead, N.Y., boarded the plane at Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton, Long Island.

The identity of the victims, who Easton Fire Chief Thomas Stone said were burned beyond recognition, has not been released. Dental records may be used to positively identify the three, he said.

The plane's propellor was found about 50 yards from the crash site. Investigators said it was uncertain whether it fell off or flew there on impact. Federal investigators are expected to arrive at the scene Wednesday.

The pilot reportedly was donating his time to make the flight. The flight had no connection with nearby Mansfield Municipal Airport.

Hannaford's store manager Arthur Dechellis said he heard an explosion, and when he looked outside a two-seat plane was on fire. He said the plane crashed in an area of the parking lot where people rarely park and no cars were hit.

Easton Deputy Police Chief Allen Krajcik, who is also a pilot, said he was on patrol in the area just after 10 a.m. about three-quarters of a mile from the Hannaford Plaza when he heard a plane very low.

"It was very low cloud cover," he said. "The plane just did a nosedive, straight down to the pavement."

He said the six-passenger plane was headed northeast of the plaza. "It was definitely in some distress," Krajcik said. "I don't know the reason for it."

"It was a miracle," he said of the fact that more people were not killed in the crash-landing at the plaza. "It was very fortunate no one in the parking lot was hurt."

Thirty-six-year-old Allison Lambert said she shops at the Easton plaza all of the time with her 9-year-old son Shane. She drove onto the road toward the Target department store just before the plane crashed.

"It's scary to think I could have been there," she said. "I feel more badly for the families of the victims."

John Pavidis of Easton said he shops at the plaza every Tuesday and was just outside the doors to Hannaford when he heard an explosion."

"I was just outside the door. I heard a lady scream. Then I saw the flames, fire and smoke." "I didn't know what kind of vehicle it was," Pavidis said. "Then I realized it was a small plane."

"It seemed to have exploded on impact."

Becca Foley, 22, of Easton, said her stepfather occasionally works at the Easton Hannaford's. "I knew he wasn't here ... If he was here, I would have been nervous."

"I was nervous anyway," she said.

Witnesses told police the plane nose-dived into the parking lot, sending flames and smoke billowing into the sky.

A witness at the scene said the plane crashed about 500 feet across from the store entrance, near a road leading out of the lot. A Mansfield Fire Department chaplain read last rites at the crash scene.

Hannaford's remained open and customers were going in and out.

Norton resident Jean Ryan saw the crash from the Target parking lot, where she was parked and called 911.

"It wasn't out of control," she said. "People were just standing by. Nobody could do anything, There was nothing you could do."

The plane was being operated by Angel Flight Northeast, which carries people who need to travel for medical treatment, but can't afford it.

Amy Camerlin, a spokeswoman for the organization, said the cancer patient and his wife were being flown to Logan so the man could be treated at the nearby Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

"Right now our primary concern is the family," she said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family."

The plane, which was built in 1956, was owned by Janet Keene of Brookfield, Conn. She was not on board.

Keene told told News-Times of Keene, Conn., that the plane had belonged to her father and originally belonged to James Roosevelt, the son of former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

"My airplane was a very sentimental thing to me," Keene told the newspaper.

Neither she, nor her husband, Kenneth Keene, were pilots so they sometimes hired a pilot so they could use it recreationally, she told the News-Times. The plane was used by Angel Flight about once a month.