Witness Said Landing Initially Looked "Normal"
A Piper PA28 Cherokee
went down in a swamp area during a landing attempt near the
Gardiner Municipal Airport in Massachusetts Saturday seriously
injuring the pilot and two passengers.
"I was just looking up, and I saw the wing being torn off the
side of the airplane," said witness Alicia D. Raulston. "We were
here having a family day when this happened. I just looked up and
saw it. It came straight down toward the ground. Then a crash --
like an explosion. I ran down the street and saw the plane,
nose-first into the swamp."
The airplane (type shown below) came to rest on its left side,
nose-first in the mud, according to the Worcester Telegram.
Lt. Richard Ares of the Gardner Fire Department said it was a
difficult extrication process.
"It wasn't that far off the road, but the mud was a foot and a
half deep, and we were cutting through a lot of heavy brush, such
as mountain laurel," he said. "It was slow-going."
Two women and a man were airlifted to UMass Memorial Medical
Center in Worcester, according to the Boston Globe.
Nearby resident Dorothy Leger-Lore told reporters that a young
woman, 19, and her brother, 16 were among the crowd at the crash
scene.
"They told me their mother was in the crash. They just
needed a place to be while the rescue was going on, so I let them
stay here on my front lawn. I let them use my telephone, gave them
water, let them have whatever they needed."
The teens said told her their family was from Egypt visiting
friends in Westminster.
"They saw the airplane, and said it went over the runway and
crashed," Leger-Lore said.
Alan McAlister was at the airport at the time of the crash with
his sons.
"We had a trail bike, we were using the trails. We heard the
airplane making a landing, so we stopped what we were doing and
then saw it land. I don't think there was anything unusual about
the landing," Mr. McAlister said. "Everything seemed normal."
Then they heard an explosion.
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 4337P
Make/Model: PA28 Description: PA-28
CHEROKEE, ARROW, WARRIOR, ACHER, D
Date: 07/14/2007 Time: 1950
Event Type: Accident Highest Injury:
Serious Mid Air: N
Missing: N
Damage: Destroyed
LOCATION
City: GARDNER State: MA Country:
US
DESCRIPTION
AIRCRAFT STRUCK TREES AND CRASHED INTO A SWAMPY AREA, 8
MILES FROM GARDNER,
MA
INJURY DATA Total
Fatal: 0
# Crew: 1 Fat:
0 Ser:
1 Min:
0 Unk:
# Pass: 2 Fat:
0 Ser:
2 Min:
0 Unk:
# Grnd:
Fat: 0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
WEATHER: KFIT 141952Z AUTO 23003KT 10SM FEW090 27/12 A2990
OTHER DATA
Activity: Pleasure Phase:
Unknown Operation: OTHER
FAA FSDO: WINDSOR LOCKS, CT
(EA63)
Entry date: 07/16/2007