Dramatic video shows moment plane crashes near Colonie neighborhood

NewsChannel 13 obtained video of the Colonie plane crashing in the final moments before impact.

The struggling plane is only visible for a split second or two before disappearing behind some pine trees.

You can see a silhouette of the plane descending with its wings seemingly tilted to the right, just before it disappears behind a large pine tree and explodes, sending a large plume of thick, black smoke into the sky.

The ill-fated plane took off from Runway 1-9, the north-south runway, at 8:15 a.m. Monday morning. That means he took off south.

The plane was heading towards Montreal, which is to the north.

The direction the plane was heading at the time of the accident appears to be north, meaning that it had already turned around or was in the process of turning left to head north when 'he crashed.

This is one of many things the National Transportation Safety Board will look into. It is unclear whether this particular plane had a black box.

It is too early at this stage to know whether the plane was experiencing mechanical problems or whether pilot error was the cause.

This piece of video could be one of many clues that help investigators solve this aviation mystery that ended up literally in a local resident's backyard.

You can watch the video as part of Dan Levy'the story.