STATESVILLE, N.C. -- An experimental aircraft crashed in Statesville early Wednesday, killing the pilot.

A spokesman with the Federal Aviation Administration said the aircraft, described as an AeroCanard, crashed near the end of the runway around 10 a.m.

Officials at the site said the plane had just taken off from the Statesville Regional Airport.

“We could tell immediately that something was wrong. The plane didn’t sound right,” said James Clower, who lives nearby. “As I looked, I could see the plane. It never leveled out. It was just staying sort of straight up.”

He said seconds later, “Looked to me like maybe the pilot might have been trying to avoid hitting something because he just did a nosedive to the left.”

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IMAGES: Pilot Killed In Experimental Aircraft Crash

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The aircraft went down in a wooded area off of Happy Lane near Bethlehem Road. Clower said he thinks the pilot knew he was going down and did his best to avoid hurting anyone else.

Risto Toukola was pronounced dead at the scene. No one else was in the two-seat plane when it crashed.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash. The FAA said it may be several days before a report on why the plane crashed is released.

An FAA spokesman said Toukola had not filed a flight plan, so investigators aren’t sure where he was headed.

Residents said the pilot owned a popular restaurant in town. Adrian Jones, whose mother worked for Toukola at Mayo’s Ristorante, said the man enjoyed flying and always talked about it.

Jones said Toukola seemed to enjoy helping others even more.

"As far as the community, he helped everybody he could, gave everybody a break. He kind of stuck forth the effort to help people. It's just tragic that a good person like that goes," he said.