SHELTON, Wash. -- A small plane crashed soon after takeoff at Shelton Airport, killing the pilot, sheriff's deputies said.

The plane took off from Sanderson Field at about noon, headed west and then had an emergency. The plane was returning to the airport when it spiraled and hit the ground.

“Shortly thereafter he declared an emergency and said that he was coming back to the airport; he tried to make a turn, stalled and crashed west of the airport,” Dean Byrd of the Mason County Sheriff’s Department said.

A pilot of a plane taking skydivers up for a jump reportedly heard the call for help and saw the small plane spin out of control, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reported.

The pilot helped guide people on the ground to the remote spot where the aircraft went down.

The pilot was killed on impact, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reported.

“The nature of the engine problem is not known. He just simply declared that he had an engine emergency,” Byrd said.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the accident to determine what exactly happened.