Theresa Braine – New York Daily News
A single-engine plane crashed into the parking lot of a retirement community in Lancaster County, Pa., on Sunday, injuring all five people aboard and setting some parked cars on fire.
The Beechcraft airplane crashed around 3:20 p.m. — not long after taking off from nearby Lancaster Airport in Manheim Township — and erupted into “an immediate fireball” when it hit the ground, witness Brian Pipkin said. He said he saw the plane climb and veer left before it “went down nose first.”
The plane was en route from Lancaster to Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport in Ohio, WGAL-TV reported. It landed just south of the airport in the parking lot of Brethren Village, about 75 miles west of Philadelphia, narrowly missing the complex’s three-story Fieldcrest Building, WGAL reported.
No one on the ground was injured, and the five people aboard the plane were taken to hospitals, WGAL reported. Fire officials told staff and residents to stay inside while crews worked at the scene. Route 501 was shut down near the site.
Pennsylvania State Police were assisting first responders, Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a statement.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it would investigate, and the National Transportation Safety Board was also called in.
Audio captured by air traffic control recorded someone on the plane reporting before the crash that a door was open, and asking to land at the airport. An air traffic controller cleared the plane to land, then said, “Pull up!” moments before a voice could be heard saying the aircraft was down.
The crash comes in the wake of a Jan. 31 medical ambulance collision in Philadelphia that killed all six occupants plus someone in a vehicle on the ground, and injuring 22.
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