Pilot drops human ashes on Mariners' stadium

An aerial view of SAFECO Field in Seattle, Washington.

SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- The pilot of a Cessna airplane dropped human ashes onto the roof of Seattle's SAFECO Field Friday, officials from the Seattle Mariners and the Seattle Fire Department said.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it plans to investigate the incident.

Authorities received a call on the matter at about 10:14 a.m. (1:14 p.m. ET). They contacted the pilot, who told officials what he had dropped, and a hazardous materials team was dispatched to the scene.

The FAA said the pilot, who took off in the single-engine plane from King County Airport, was apparently working for a company hired to make such drops.

People hire aircraft on a routine basis to drop loved ones' ashes on places they consider appropriate, an FAA spokesman said.

But Dave Miller of the FAA flight standards division in the agency's Northwest Mountain Region said in this case, "their choice of locations would appear to be extremely imprudent."

FAA officials said they were not certain whether the pilot dropped a container along with the ashes, although Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick said she believed the ashes were contained in a package that broke apart as it hit the retractable roof.