Baby boy found with blunt-force injuries, convicted murderer Scott Watson back in court, and illegal boarding houses operating. Video / NZ Herald / Getty
Four people were hospitalised in serious to critical condition after a small plane crashed into the front yard of a suburban Denver home after trying to land in the street, authorities said.
The plane burst into flames after crashing on Friday, and the injuries to the plane’s four passengers included burns, Alex Lemishko, a senior accident investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said.
Locals rushed to the scene and pulled the survivors from the wreckage.
Two of the four people taken to the hospital from the crash in the suburb of Arvada were adults. But it was not clear yet whether the other two were adults or children, he said.
Arvada Fire earlier identified two of those onboard as juveniles.
No one in the home, which is on a street running parallel to railroad tracks, was hurt, he said.
The 1969 Beechcraft 35 crashed about 15 minutes after taking off from Centennial Airport south of Denver, apparently headed to Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, about 50 kilometres to the northwest, Lemishko said.
The unidentified pilot radioed that he was experiencing engine problems shortly before the crash and planned to land at the airport, which was probably visible from the air by then, Lemishko said.
Instead, the pilot tried to land in the street. The plane’s left wing hit a large spruce tree, and the plane skidded down the road and veered into the yard, he said. The plane also hit a pickup truck parked on the street in front of the home, pushing the truck up into the home’s driveway into another truck, Aurora Fire spokesperson Deanna Harrington said.
A road or even railroad tracks is a reasonable option for a pilot to try to land if they cannot make it to an airport, Lemishko said.
“I’m sure what was going through the pilot’s mind was “I see a roadway, I need to get this aircraft down, let’s give it a shot’,” he said.
The plane was on fire when firefighters responded to the crash about 9.30am, Arvada Fire operations chief Matt Osier said.
Emergency personnel work at the scene of a small plane crash in Arvada, Colorado. Four people were hospitalised after the crash. Photo / AP
Randy Hamrick lives in the home where the plane crashed and told Fox31 that he and his wife were home at the time and first thought it was train derailment from the tracks across the street
“We saw the explosion and the glow from the outside and said, ‘well, wait a second’,” Hamrick said.
“It felt like it was falling in,” he said of the couple’s home. “I mean, it was just that violent.”
