LINCOLN, R.I. (AP) – A Norfolk, Mass., man was killed Friday when the home-built plane he was flying crashed shortly after takeoff into the woods near a suburban shopping mall, then burst into flames.

Pilot Paul Douglas died when his plane slammed into the ground about 50 yards from Lincoln Mall, his brother-in-law said.

The crash occurred shortly before 5 p.m., just after Douglas left North Central Airport, about two miles from the crash site, said Ken Maffei.

Douglas was the only person on board the four passenger “Adventure Air AMPIB” airplane. There was no contact with air traffic control before the plane went down, said Holly Baker, a spokeswoman with the Federal Aviation Administration.

“There was a lot of smoke, you couldn’t miss it,” said Jonathan McIntosh, a security supervisor at Lincoln Mall.

McIntosh said he noticed the heavy smoke from the plane while making his outdoor rounds at the mall. He said onlookers gathered at the scene of the crash, as firefighters doused the flames.

Mall operations were not affected by the crash.

Douglas, who was in his fifties, got his pilot’s license about a year ago. He had been flying the fixed-wing single-engine aircraft he had built for the past few months, Maffei said.

The plane was registered to Douglas on Feb. 20, 2004, according to FAA records.

“Flying was his greatest hobby,” said his brother-in-law.

The FAA and state and local police were investigating, and had no immediate cause of the crash.

A message left at the North Central Airport wasn’t immediately returned.

AP-ES-10-29-04 2050EDT