A single-engine plane carrying five people crashed Saturday, causing flames to fall in the parking lot of an elderly community near a small airport outside Pennsylvania, with everyone on board surviving, officials and witnesses said.
The fiery crash happened around 3pm just south of Lancaster Airport in Mannheim Township, police chief Duane Fisher told reporters at an evening briefing. All five victims were taken to hospital in unknown conditions. No one on the ground was hurt, the chief said.
Brian Pipkin was driving nearby when he noticed that the small plane would suddenly turn left after climbing.
“Then it first took my nose down,” he told The Associated Press. “There was a fireball right away.”
Pipkin called 911 and headed to the crash site where he recorded a video of the broken remains of the plane and black smoke engulfed in flames in the parking lot of his compatriot village. He said the plane missed a little while to hit a three-storey building in a vast retirement community about 75 miles west of Philadelphia.
Fire trucks from the airport arrived within minutes, with more first responders quickly following.
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“It was so smokey and very hot,” Pipkin said. “They were really struggling to put out the fire,” Fisher said dozens of parking cars had been damaged.
The Federal Aviation Administration has confirmed that there are five people at Beechcrounanza.
Air traffic control voice captured the pilot’s report that the aircraft had “open doors so they need to return to landing.” Before you say “pull up!”, you can hear them clean the plane to land. After a while, someone can hear the aircraft “is right behind the terminal on Car Parking Street.”
The FAA said it would investigate.
The collision comes about a month after seven people died when an ambulance erupted in flames after crashing into busy Philadelphia Street.
By Christopher Weber
