Authorities say three people are dead after a vintage helicopter hit power lines, crashed and caught fire in San Bernardino County.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says the Piasecki PV-18 took off from Adelanto Airport at 8:30 a.m. Saturday headed for Riverside.

All three people aboard were killed when the helicopter crashed a mile south of the airport. Adelanto is a Mojave Desert city about 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Investigators from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were at the scene.

There was no word on the cause, and identities of the dead were not immediately released.

The helicopter is a vintage military aircraft built in 1951. FAA records show the owner is Joseph William Pike of Victorville.

A message left at a number listed for Pike was not immediately returned.