A single-engine airplane carrying five people crashed and burst into flames Sunday in the parking lot of a retirement community near a small airport in suburban Pennsylvania, and everyone onboard survived, officials and witnesses said.
The fiery crash happened around 3 p.m. just south of Lancaster Airport in Manheim Township, Police Chief Duane Fisher told reporters at an evening briefing. All five victims were taken to hospitals in unknown condition. Nobody on the ground was hurt, the chief said.
Footage shared on social media showed black smoke billowing from the plane’s wreckage and multiple parked cars engulfed in flames at the crash site about 75 miles west of Philadelphia.
Brian Pipkin was driving nearby when he noticed the plane climbing before it suddenly veered to the left.
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“And then it went down nose first,” he told The Associated Press. “There was an immediate fireball.”
Pipkin called 911 and then drove to the crash site, where he recorded video of black smoke billowing from the plane’s mangled wreckage and multiple cars engulfed in flames in the parking lot of Brethren Village. He said the plane narrowly missed hitting a three-story building at the sprawling retirement community.
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A fire truck from the airport arrived within moments, and more first responders followed quickly.
“It was so smoky, and it was so hot,” Pipkin said. “They were really struggling to get the fire out.”
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed there were five people aboard the Beechcraft Bonanza. Its planned flight and destination were not released soon after the crash.
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The conditions of the five also were not immediately known, and authorities didn’t elaborate on how they survived.
Air traffic control audio captured someone on the plane reporting that an aircraft door was open and requesting a landing at the airport. An air traffic controller is heard clearing the plane to land, before saying, “Pull up!” Moments later, someone can be heard saying the aircraft was down.
The FAA said it will investigate.
The crash comes after several others in recent weeks.
In January, 67 people died after an American Airlines plane and an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided in the air over Washington, D.C.
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In mid-February, a Delta Air Lines jet made a crash landing and flipped upside down on the runway at an airport in Canada. There were 21 people injured, and no deaths were reported. The flight took off from Minnesota.
The Baltimore-area man piloting a small plane that went down on a snowy peak in Vermont in late February “walked away” from the crash. He and his two adult children suffered only minor injuries.
About a month ago, seven people were killed when an air ambulance burst into flames after crashing onto a busy Philadelphia street.
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