Investigators moved methodically yesterday to remove the bodies of a pilot and his father who perished Sunday when their single-engine plane plunged into a Chesterfield County home.

State police identified the pair as Joseph Anthony Grana Jr., 40, of Florham Park, N.J., who was piloting the Mooney M20M aircraft, and Joseph Anthony Grana Sr., 73, of Richmond, the lone passenger.

Grana Jr., whom police described as an experienced pilot, and his father were headed to Franklin Municipal Airport in southeastern Virginia when the plane developed trouble and crashed into a house in the 3100 block of Woodsong Drive, critically injuring a woman there.

"As I understand, they were going to go out to practice some landings and takeoffs," said Charles E. Dane, manager of the Chesterfield County Airport, where the flight had originated Sunday at 10:16 a.m. They crashed about 5 miles from the airport.

Police said Grana Jr. had traveled to Richmond during the weekend for a family event. According to FlightAware, an online flight tracking service, Grana Jr. arrived here Saturday about 1:20 p.m. from an airport in Essex County, N.J.

He was piloting a plane registered to RKJ Aero, a company based in Wilmington, Del., according to the Federal Aviation Administration aircraft registry. Grana Jr.'s connection to the company couldn't be determined immediately.

The Grana family, in a statement released through local law-enforcement authorities, asked for privacy and that news reporters not contact them for comment. However, they released a family photo of Grana and his father.

The family statement said their "thoughts and prayers" are with the family of Melissa Bowen, 22, who suffered life-threatening burns when the plane crashed in a fireball into the house owned by her sister, Christine Bowen.

Melissa Bowen remained in critical condition last night at VCU Medical Center.

Local, state and federal authorities converged at the crash site yesterday to begin what could be a lengthy investigation of what happened. Their first order of business, which lasted most of the day, was to remove the remains of Grana and his father.

"That's first and foremost," said state police Sgt. Tom Cunningham, a department spokesman.

Authorities set up two large portable canopies for that task -- one shielding the recovery area, the other to identify the remains.

"They're taking their time," Cunningham said. "It's a very methodical process."

By 6 p.m., authorities had finished the recovery and identification process and removed both bodies.

Investigators now will turn their attention to collecting and removing aircraft wreckage from the crash site and surrounding neighborhood yards.

Larry Herner, the FAA's investigator in charge, said the investigation just is getting started. "It may take weeks, it may take months," he said late yesterday.

Investigators will collect pieces of the airplane and reassemble it as much as possible "to make sure we have a whole airplane here," Herner said.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board also were on hand yesterday to assist with that part of the investigation.

Dane, Chesterfield's airport manager, said the county has maintained a good safety record with few serious incidents.

"In the past 15 years or so, we've had several incidents where planes have had problems landing, but they all occurred on airport property," he said. "And to my knowledge, there's only been four incidents off airport property [during that time], and only two of them involved planes that were either coming from or going to Chesterfield.

"That doesn't discount how horrible the incident was [Sunday]," he added.

Contact Mark Bowes at (804) 649-6450 or mbowes@timesdispatch.com.

Staff writer Katherine Calos contributed to this report.