Pilot Killed when Plane Hits MA Building

METHUEN -- The pilot of a small plane that hit a multifamily home is dead, according to police.

The pilot was identified as former Newburyport Mayor Al Lavender, according to current Newburyport Mayor Donna Holaday.

Lavender was mayor of Newburyport from 2002 to 2003.

The plane impacted the roof of building No. 7 at the Prides Crossing development at 1 Riverview Boulevard. The building houses 12 condominiums.

No residents of the building were hurt and all residents have been accounted for.

Nancy Downey, president of the condominium owners' board, lives on the first floor of the building that was hit. She was in her kitchen making lunch when the plane hit after 1 p.m.

"I heard this loud boom," Downey said. "The fire alarms went off. I looked outside and it was raining insulation and part of the roof was coming down. I went out. I looked up. I called 911."

Resident Kim Saba was taking her groceries out of the car when she noticed a plane flying in low.

“I heard a funny noise and it caught my eye,” she said.

She said she quickly realized the plane was coming in too low and that it was going to hit a building.

While Saba couldn’t see the pilot, she said it looked like the plane “was trying” to avoid the impact.

Saba said she started “screaming to get everyone out (of the building) as quick as they can.”

“It was the worst thing ever. There was just nothing I could do to help,” Saba said.

Another Pride’s Crossing resident, Ashley Waterman, said she didn’t see the plane but heard a sound “just like a pop.”

“It wasn’t anything more than that, it was weird,” she said.

State police say the plane was on approach to Lawrence Municipal Airport and crashed into the building, which is immediately across the Merrimack River from the airport. The building that was hit is in a neighborhood nestled between the river and Interstate 495.

The plane is apparently a small, single-engine passenger aircraft that apparently nosedived into the building. Just a portion of the tail was visible protruding from the roof.

There were initial reports of a fire, called in at two-alarms, but there is no current evidence of a serious fire at the scene. Light smoke is coming from the roof of the building at the spot the plane impacted.

Methuen police and the Salem Fire Department are on scene, as are Columbia Gas of Massachusetts and the American Red Cross.

Eagle-Tribune reporters and photographers are at the scene.

Check back here for more on this story as it develops.

———

Visit The Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, Mass.) at www.eagletribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.