A plane crashed into the front yard of a Colorado home on Friday morning, sending neighbours rushing out to pull the four passengers — including two children — from the wreckage.
The 1969 Beechcraft 35 had been in the air for about 15 minutes when it crashed in a neighborhood in Arvada, Denver, at around 9:30am, hitting a fence and a tree before bursting into flames, Alex Lemishko, a senior accident investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said.
Four people were hospitalised in serious to critical condition following the crash, with the injuries including burns.
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Two children an two adults were on the plane. All are now in a critical condition in hospital (Arvada Pollice)No one in the home, which is on a street running parallel to railroad tracks, was hurt.
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The four passengers — which included two adults and two children, according to police — took off from Centennial Airport south of Denver before the plane crashed as they were headed for Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, about 30 miles northwest, Lemishko said.
The unidentified pilot radioed that he was experiencing engine problems after seeing a low oil pressure sign illuminate shortly before the crash and planned to land at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, which was probably visible from the air by then, Lemishko added.
The wreckage pictured in the frontyard of the Hamrick's home (CBS Colorado)Moments later, the pilot reported extreme power loss and told the tower they would not make it to the airport and would “put it down” where they could. The tower lost contact with the plane soon after.
Officials said the pilot attempted to land in the street of the residential neighbourhood, but the plane’s left wing clipped a large tree causing the plane to skid down the roadway and crash into a truck before it came to a stop in the front yard.
Randy Hamrick, who's front yard the plane landed in, said he was in the house with his wife at the time.
The plane hit a fence and some trees before bursting into flames (CBS Colorado)He told the New York Post at first the couple thought a train had derailed across the street.
“We saw the explosion and the glow from the outside and said, well, wait a second,” he said. “It felt like it was falling in. I mean, it was just that violent.”
A roadway 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 first responders arrived, Arvada Fire operations chief Matt Osier said. The fire was quickly extinguished but hours later it briefly caught fire again.
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