A small Cessna aircraft crashed in a San Diego military neighborhood Thursday morning setting several homes and vehicles on fire with multiple deaths reported.

NBC 7 is learning much more about the six people who lost their lives aboard the small plane that crashed into San Diego’s Murphy Canyon neighborhood.

Is it less safe to fly now than before? Let’s look at the data. In the US, the National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB, tracks flight accidents involving serious injuries, fatalities or major aircraft damage, along with incidents that pose safety risks, such as engine failures, fires or system malfunctions.

Massive destruction can come in small packages -- or airplanes -- apparently. In an escalating situation that apparently required the presence of hazmat teams, a neighborhood in San Diego was turned upside down after a small plane crashed into it.

Daniel Williams, a founding member of The Devil Wears Prada, posted photos of himself sitting in the cockpit of the doomed Cessna 550 plane just hours before it crashed in a fireball early Thursday, killing all six people on board, including music industry big shot David Shapiro.