Pilot Managed To Miss Houses, Passenger Fatally Injured

An A36 Bonanza (similar airplane pictured in file photo) went down Wednesday in a residential neighborhood near Albany, NY, resulting in the fatal injury of one of the two people on board the airplane. Real estate developer Walter F. Uccellini did not survive when the plane went down in the Clifton Park neighborhood just north of the Mohawk River, finally stopping when it impacted two trees.

The pilot, Jim Quinn, was Uccellini's business partner. He suffered a head injury and was transported to Albany Medical Center Hospital where he was listed in critical condition, according to a report in the Albany Times Union.

The pair had departed Albany International Airport en route to Plattsburgh, NY, at 0725 EDT. State Police Capt. John McCarthy Jr. said the airplane experienced engine problems shortly after takeoff. The airplane impacted several trees and may have hit electrical wires as it came down. It narrowly avoided impacting two homes before stopping.

The FAA said radar contact with the Bonanza was lost within two minutes of Quinn reporting the engine problem. One resident told the paper that the area when the plane came down "used to be an emergency landing field before they put all of these houses in."

FMI: www.ntsb.gov