A plane crashed with five people on board at a small Pennsylvania airport. All occupants survived and were hospitalized, officials and witnesses reported.
A single motor aircraft with five people on board crashed and caught in flames on Sunday in the parking lot of a community for retirees near a small Pennsylvania airport. The five occupants survived, officials and witnesses reported.
The incident occurred around 3 in the afternoon at a short distance south of Lancaster airport, in Manheim County, police chief Duane Fisher reported at a press conference. The five people were transferred to hospitals and so far their health status is unknown. There were no injured people on land, added the police chief.
Brian Pipkin was driving in the area when he saw the small plane that ascended before turning abruptly to the left.
“And then it went into minced,” he told The Associated Press. “There was immediately a fireball.”
Pipkin called the emergency number 911 and then went to the scene of the accident, where he recorded a video in which you can see a column of black smoke that leaves the remains of the plane and several cars wrapped in flames in the parking lot of Brethren Village. He added that the aircraft passed very close to a three -story building located inside the community for retirees, which is about 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Philadelphia.
A airport fire truck arrived in minutes, and a little later there were more lifeguards.
“There was a lot of smoke and very hot,” Pipkin said. “They really had trouble turning off the fire.”
A dozen parked cars suffered damage and were briefly asked for the residents of Brethren Village to protect themselves within the facilities as a preventive measure, Fisher said.
“I don't know if I would consider it a miracle, but the fact that we have a plane crash where they all survive and nobody on land is injured is something wonderful,” added the police chief.
The Federal United States Aviation Administration (FAA for its initials in English) confirmed that there were five people aboard the Beechcraft Bonanza. At the moment the trajectory and fate of the flight was not revealed.
Nor was the state of the five injured people announced immediately, and the authorities did not come into details on how they survived the accident.
According to the air traffic control audio, the pilot reports that the aircraft “has an open door, we need to return to land.” You can listen to an air traffic controller while authorizing the landing of the plane, before saying: “Go up!”
FAA will open an incident investigation.
The accident occurs approximately one month after seven people died when an aerial ambulance caught fire after crashing into a busy street in Philadelphia.