TWO pilots were killed and four passengers injured when their plane crashed shortly after takeoff on Monday in northeastern Ohio, clipping power lines and almost crashing into homes in snow-covered Apple Creek, according to Reuters citing US media reports
TWO pilots were killed and four passengers injured when their plane crashed shortly after takeoff on Monday in northeastern Ohio, clipping power lines and almost crashing into homes in snow-covered Apple Creek, according to Reuters citing US media reports. Unspecified engine issues likely caused the crash, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer which quoted the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
News photos showed the front end of Douglas DC-3 broken off, exposing the interior with bits of plane debris spread about. It appeared to have skidded into trees about 60 miles south of Cleveland.
'There's pieces of debris up against the house and things. We're very lucky that maybe the trees stopped them from going into the house,' Michael Morrison, identified as a property owner near the crash site, told ABC News. 'I've never felt a force inside the house that strong where it shook the house.'
The plane was a DC-3-65TP, a twin turbo-prop model that first flew in 1944, according to Aviation Safety Network, a website dedicated to flight safety. A modified version of the plane first flew in 1986, the site said. It was not immediately clear how old this particular plane was.
The crash killed pilot Brian Stoltzfus, 55, and co-pilot Curtis Wilkerson, 56, the Plain Dealer reported, citing the Highway Patrol.
The plane had taken off from the private Stoltzfus Airfield, where the phone went unanswered.
Mr Stoltzfus was identified as the president of Priority Air Charter, according to its website, which also advertised a DC-3 for sale.
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