Associated Press - March 19, 2010 6:54 AM ET

HUNTSVILLE, Ark. (AP) - Authorities say a Rogers man was killed when the experimental airplane he was piloting crashed in the backyard of a Huntsville residence.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford says the accident happened about 1 p.m. Thursday near the northwest Arkansas town's airport.

Madison County Sheriff Phillip Morgan identified the pilot as 36-year-old Terry Dean Smith. No injuries were reported on the ground.

Lunsford says the pilot was doing "touch and goes," or departures and landings, when he crashed.

Huntsville Airport Commission head Charles Coger says Smith told an airport employee that he wanted to test the plane's propeller. Coger says Smith had taken off and landed once, then took off again when he banked to the right and crashed.

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