March 25--SOUTH MIDDLETON TWP. -- Eyewitnesses say a single engine Cessna-type aircraft ran out of gas before crashing nose first into the asphalt of Forge Road near the intersection with West Hunter Road around 11:15 p.m. Monday.
The Sentinel arrived at the scene within minutes of the call to find an intact plane with no smoke or flames pointed down at an angle with Forge Road. Firefighters were already at work using tools to cut the pilot from the cockpit.
First-responders removed the pilot from the plane around 11:30 p.m. before placing him on a gurney and putting in an ambulance.
John Breutsch, the Cumberland County Public Information Officer, told CBS21 that the pilot of the plane was taken to Penn State Hershey Medical Center with serious injuries. The pilot's name has not been released.
CBS21 also reported the plane was being towed to the Carlisle Airport where the Federal Aviation Administration will conduct an investigation Tuesday morning.
"I saw the plane flying overhead," said John Byers, a resident of the 800 block of Forge Road. "It wasn't making any noise. He ran out of gas. Then I heard tree branches breaking. I stopped going into the house, got in my car and this is what I saw."
Pam Hagerich lives about a half-block away in the 400 block of Limestone Road. She said she heard a big bang and thought at first that someone had struck her vehicle. A short time later, she received a phone call from her brother, Jim Kingsborough, one of the owners of the Carlisle Airport.
Hagerich said Kingsborough had already checked into the crash and learned that the plane was a Pennsylvania Old Straight Tail Cessna 172 from Massachusetts that had run out of gas.
John Pitman of the 1000 block of Forge Road lives on the corner with Fairview Street, just northwest of the crash scene. He was watching TV when neighbors on either side contacted him and said they thought they heard just another car crash.
"We have them here with some regularity," Pitman said. He investigated and found first-responders already at work blocking off access to Forge Road and preparing for the worst. "They were very efficient crews. I was impressed."
From his vantage point, Pitman said he saw that the pilot was injured and that his head appeared to be wrapped with some cloth. Pitman said he talked to a man who had arrived on the scene and was talking to the pilot before rescue personnel showed up. That man told Pitman that the pilot was trying to fly to Connecticut, had run out of gas and was not even aware that there was an airport within close proximity to the crash site.
"The airport is just over the hill," said Jeff Smith of nearby Foxwood Street, who responded to the scene as a volunteer with the Union Fire Company in Carlisle. He was standing in a nearby yard while other firefighters worked to free the pilot.
Smith said the pilot was not where he should have been for an approach to Carlisle Airport. "He should have been running down there over Mayapple and then coming back down in," Smith said. The Mayapple golf course and residential development is located southeast of the crash site.
Iva Thompson lives in the first block of Emerald Circle about a half-block southwest of the crash site. Thompson said she heard sirens and could see the glare of lights from emergency vehicle. She went to investigate and arrived just in time to see first-responders remove a person from the aircraft and put him on a stretcher.
"My son lives four houses down," Thompson said. "I had no idea what was going on. I am totally shocked." She added, because of the proximity of the airport, neighbors hear planes flying overhead all the time. Usually, the pilots are already making the turn for the approach vector to the airport. "It does look like he was a little short," Thompson said referring to the pilot involved in the crash.
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Posted earlier on Cumberlink:
SOUTH MIDDLETON TWP. -- Eyewitnesses say a single engine Cessna-type aircraft ran out of gas before crashing nose first into the asphalt of Forge Road near the intersection with West Hunter Road around 11:15 p.m. Monday.
The Sentinel arrived at the scene within minutes of the call to find an intact plane with no smoke or flames pointed down at an angle with Forge Road. Firefighters were already at work using tools to cut the pilot from the cockpit.
First-responders removed the pilot from the plane around 11:30 p.m. before placing him on a gurney and putting in an ambulance. There is no further information.
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Posted at 11:35 p.m. on Cumberlink:
SOUTH MIDDLETON TWP. -- Emergency crews were called to the intersection of Forge and Hunter roads at 11:15 p.m. Monday night for a plane crash.
A reporter at the scene said a small plane crashed nose first into Forge Road. Witnesses at the scene said the Cessna plane ran out of gas. There was no debris and no fire present at the scene at 11:30 p.m. as crews worked on the plane, which was mostly intact, the reporter said.
The plane was from Massachusetts. Fire fighters removed the pilot and he was taken away in an ambulance.
No further details were available at press time.
Copyright 2014 - The Sentinel, Carlisle, Pa.
