A private jet carrying five people crashed into homes today in "a ball of fire" after putting out a mayday call.

The crash in Farnborough, Kent, left the roof of one house completely destroyed, and black smoke billowing into the air.

A pilot who was flying another plane nearby Biggin Hill described hearing a mayday call from a Cessna come over to the control tower, with emergency alarms in the cockpit in the background. He said the pilot said he was experiencing "severe engine vibrations".

"He reported five passengers," the pilot said, which would have included himself. "The radio went dead and black smoke came up."

He said he had the impression that the pilot had not been intending to land at Biggin Hill.

"Unfortunately he did not quite make it," he said.

Another local resident said from the engine noise "there was something wrong with the plane".

He said of the pilot: "He was trying to keep that plane in the air. One hundred per cent he was doing everything he could... He obviously knew the lay of the land; he kept hugging the woods."

Another resident said there had been concerns on the estate "for years" about the planes flying low over houses coming in and out of Biggin Hill Airport.

Lucy Hone told Sky News: "Everybody has been saying for years how low it is they come across and how easy it would be for them to hit one of the houses, which has now happened."

Ms Hone said the crash had occurred near a playing field where children from the estate were taking advantage of the fine weather to play.

"We heard a massive explosion and the whole estate shook," she said.

"We thought it was my uncle's house as he lives really near, so my dad got in his car and rushed straight over there. The plane was very, very low. I thought it was going to hit the house right in front of us. The planes are very low coming over here but I have never seen anything like that. There were a lot of people running round screaming for their children. It was horrible."

She said there had been an increase in the number of planes coming over the estate in recent years and that houses frequently shook when aircraft flew over to and from the airport.

Jason Morrell, a nearby resident, said he believed the people who lived in the house which took the brunt of the impact from the plane were on holiday.

He said: "We do not know that for certain, but that is what we have been told."

Mr Morrell was one of many eye witnesses on the Kent housing estate who saw the plane flying low before it crashed.

"It was at such a low level I could see the people sitting on the plane panicking at the windows.

"I ran outside because my two young girls were out there playing. I was running down there and I could see it going into the houses.

"The woman next door (to where the plane landed) was hysterical. Her father had collapsed. We managed to drag him away from the scene. The plane was that close you could see the panic on their faces."

John Waite, who lives just quarter of a mile from where the plane came down, said: "I was just sitting in the garden and I heard this very loud engine noise. There was black smoke which was pouring out for about five minutes after the crash.

"At the moment the area is full of helicopters. One has landed at the back of the school which is nearby."

Mr Waite said he and fellow members of the local residents' association had been concerned about the planes landing so close to the nearby Princess Royal Hospital.

He said: "They come over the hospital about 700ft above it. We have been trying to enable the Bromley Council to resist the expansion.

"I am just worried about those people in the plane. And all those people who were in the houses. I hope nobody was in the house at the time."

Karl Mills, who lives just across the road from the crash scene, said: "It nearly hit my house. I thought it was going to hit us. It was the loudest noise I have ever heard. All I could see was a big ball of fire and smoke coming from the house."

Mr Mills described the crash as "unbelievable" and "really frightening".

No-one at Biggin Hill would comment.

A spokeswoman for the Princess Royal University Hospital in Farnborough Common, Orpington, said: "We are on standby for a major incident that has happened in the near vicinity.

"We are currently expecting a low number of casualties. No accurate figure is currently known.

"We are following the standard procedures for a major incident."

She explained no casualties had arrived by 4.30pm.

An air traffic controller, who did not wish to be identified, said the Cessna Citation plane had been en route to France when the crash occurred.

He said: "There could be a million and one reasons why it crashed. It would be wrong to speculate. That will all come out after the investigation."

He said Cessna Citations were usually used for short range journeys to France, the Mediterranean and the North African coast with a maximum cruising height of 35,000ft.

A spokesman for the Met Police said there were five people on board the private jet - two pilots and three passengers. He said he could give no more details about the people in the plane. But he explained a few, unknown number of people on the ground had suffered minor injuries and believed the plane was twin-engined.

Neighbour John Crane, who was one of the initial people on the scene, said he saw the plane at a "funny angle" flying along Broadwater Gardens with its tail down and nose up.

He described there being a "massive big red fireball and two or three explosions, obviously the fuel tank".

He said the flames were so fierce he could not get anywhere near.

"It sounded like a fighter jet" he told Sky News, with the noise of the engine "screaming".

"It looked to me as though the pilot was trying to avoid the houses".

He said it was "either amazing flying by the pilot or a miracle that no one on the ground was hurt".

He said the plane clipped the end of a house and it was "terrifying, quite distressing".

Mr Crane, who had lived there for 20 years, said whereas there used to be just small two-seater planes, nowadays you could see the pilots' goggles as they flew around the estate.

Local Christine Diamond said two houses had been affected - one with its garage and car devastated and the house with its roof destroyed.

Ms Diamond, who said she lives in the small cul-de-sac, heard a noise like a lawnmower and her husband told her: "Get out, get out".

She said the couple who lived at the house with the destroyed roof were on holiday.

"The lady's coming back today and her husband tomorrow," she said, adding that the husband was on a golfing holiday.

Local councillor Jennifer Hillier described the area as "a closely packed residential area".

Talking about having an airfield close to a residential area, she told the channel that residents were right to be concerned.

Dozens of residents gathered outside their homes just outside a police cordon blocking off the crash site.

Christine Diamond, who lives next door to the property where the plane crashed, said the owners called Pat and Ed Harman were away on holiday when the incident happened.

Mrs Diamond said that Pat was due back today from a break to Madeira with her daughter while her husband Ed was due back from a golfing holiday in Portugal tomorrow.

She said: "They are going to be absolutely devastated by this, but I'm just so glad that they weren't inside at the time.

"I heard a loud bang and saw flames reflecting in the window, I came out of the house and my husband went into Pat and Ed's house but thankfully they were away.

"It's a nice area around here but the only thing we don't like is being so close to Biggin Hill Airport which has seen big expansion in the past."

Mrs Diamond said the properties in the area were detached four-bedroom homes dating back about 20 years.

Another resident Gary Lynes, 42, said the crash happened about 300-yards from Darrick Wood Junior School. He said: "It's a nightmare. I heard the engines roar, it was really loud and then I heard a massive bang and looked out to see a massive ball of black smoke."

Jamie Foot, 17, who lives a short distance from the houses which were struck said: "I was sitting on the settee watching TV with my sister Jodie, 15, and then the aeroplane came over the top of the garage and hit Number 5 Romsey Close.Then there was a massive explosion and a big fireball and smokeball went up in the air.

"I just wanted to get my sister out of the house and into the street where there were other neighbours. My mum and dad were out food shopping at the time. I saw the plane clear our garage through the patio doors and come straight down. It just took me by surprise really. It all happened so quickly. The next thing I knew there was a big bang."

Jamie said that a car in neighbouring Number 4 Romsey Close was engulfed in flames on the driveway.

He said one of the occupants was inside the property and that children who lived at the address had been playing outside just five or 10 minutes before the plane struck.