2 dead after small plane crashes into Pennsylvania neighborhood
BUCKS COUNTY, Penn. — A small, single-engine plane crashed into a Pennsylvania neighborhood 30 minutes after takeoff Thursday night, killing the pilot and a passenger on board.
Authorities urged residents to avoid the area as Federal Aviation Administration officials and police and fire departments responded to the crash shortly before 5 p.m. in a residential area of Hilltown Township, Hilltown Police Chief Chris Engelhart said. The township is located in southeast Pennsylvania almost 40 miles north of Philadelphia.
Bucks County Coroner Meredith Buck confirmed the pilot and a passenger, both believed to be male, died in the crash. Authorities did not release their names Thursday night, and autopsies are scheduled for Saturday.
No additional injuries were reported, but the plane struck an unoccupied vehicle as it crashed just yards from a home, Bucks County spokesman James O'Malley said.
Some nearby homes were damaged by debris, Engelhart said.
Doorbell video cameras captured footage of the fiery crash in a development of single family homes near a middle school. In video posted on social media, the sound of an engine sputtering can be heard seconds before the plane dropped out of the sky and exploded, sending thick black smoke cloud over the neighborhood.
On Friday, the burnt remains of the plane remained underneath a charred street sign and surrounded by caution tape and a barrier meant to contain any fuel spill.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will handle the crash investigation, Engelhart said.
According to a statement from the FAA, the pilot departed from Doylestown Airport in Bucks County and was headed to Gunden Airport, a privately owned airport near Perkasie, a Bucks County borough about 35 miles north of Philadelphia.
Thursday's crash is the second fatal one involving a small plane in less than a year in the county. In June, a 79-year-old pilot crashed his single-engine Vans RV-6A in woods south of the Doylestown Airport.
The plane did not hit any building or structures. The June crash remains under investigation, a process that can take 12 to 24 months.