GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Three people were killed when a twin-engine plane bringing a kidney transplant patient from Key West to Gainesville crashed short of the runway early Friday morning.

Pilot Andrew Ricciuti, 43, was killed, along with 51-year-old Gordon Bennett Taylor and his 52-year-old wife, Barbara Taylor.

The plane's owner, Robert Valle of St. Croix, British Virgin Islands, said Gordon Taylor was a friend of the pilot and was headed to Gainesville for a kidney transplant.

FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the five-passenger, Italian-built Parntenavia P.68C went down about 2:45 a.m. Friday after the plane was cleared for an instrument landing at the airport. Visibility was limited at the time by dense fog.

At 3 a.m., airport officials reported losing contact with the plane, but an initial search did not turn up any wreckage.

Just after 7 a.m., Gainesville police got a call from someone who found the plane's tail section just after 7 a.m. in the 6900 block of N.E. 39th Avenue.

Within the hour, officers found more debris in the canopy of trees nearby.

The FAA said the plane was flying in from Key West and was flying for Air Key West, a charter company whose Web site lists Valle as director of operations.

A portion of 39th Avenue was closed during the search and recovery operations in the area, and motorists were asked to avoid the area.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA will investigate the cause of the crash.