(CNN) -- A military jet crashed into a residential neighborhood in San Diego, California, on Monday as it tried to land at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, killing two people in a home, authorities said.
Both victims were in one of two houses destroyed by the crash and ensuing fire, and two others believed to be in that house were missing, officials said.
The pilot of the F/A-18 Hornet ejected safely and was taken to a hospital, the Marine Corps said in a news release. The pilot, whose name was not released, was the only occupant of the two-seat aircraft, the Marine Corps said.
At a news conference in the University City community where the crash occurred, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said it was believed that four people -- "possibly a grandmother, a mother and two children" -- were in the destroyed house where firefighters found two bodies.
The other two people believed to be in that house were missing, and firefighters were searching through the rubble, Sanders said.
The other house hit by the plane apparently was unoccupied at the time, he said.
The jet crashed into an area of about 20 homes, Sanders said, but only those two houses burned.
The Marine Corps said the jet was returning to the Miramar field after performing landing training on a Navy aircraft carrier, and the pilot reported having trouble. The exact nature of the trouble was not known, the Marine Corps said, and an investigation was launched into the crash with the military having jurisdiction over the crash site.
Aerial video broadcast by CNN affiliate KGTV shortly after the crash showed thick gray smoke billowing from a residential area near Interstate 805. Smoke continued to rise in clouds from the site nearly an hour after the crash.
Firefighters aimed jets of water from high-pressure hoses at the smoldering rubble.
Authorities cordoned off the area. Residents told reporters they had been informed by police that chemicals were in the air and they should stay away.
One resident interviewed by CNN affiliate KFMB said he saw a fighter jet at a very low altitude, and "it just spiraled, right out of 'Top Gun.' "
The movie "Top Gun" was based on the Navy fighter pilot training program at the Miramar facility.
The resident said he saw a flier from the aircraft on the ground after parachuting from the plane. He said the pilot was dazed but able to move on his own.
Bank worker Scott Bloom told KGTV he was on his way to visit clients when he saw someone eject from the plane. He said the plane was silent in the moments before it went down.
"I thought I was dreaming," Bloom told KGTV. "It was so surreal."
The principal of a high school about three blocks from the crash site said students had just finished lunch when staffers heard "two large pops or two large booms." The school and its students were not directly affected by the crash, but the school was put into lock-down mode for students' safety, Principal Mike Price said.
The pilot was in communication with military air traffic controllers before the jet crashed, and the crash site is about two miles (three kilometers) from the airfield, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
