The pilot whose plane crashed in New Hampshire is lucky to be alive after narrowly avoiding crashing into a house.
Although the man’s identity is being withheld, officials said he was the only person on board. He was conscious and was able to call 911 afterwards.
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“He should definitely be playing the lottery,” Londonderry Fire Chief Bo Butler said at a press conference Friday after the incident. “This was a very significant emergency that we responded to and a lot of things could have gone wrong other than the plane actually going down.”
As Butler addressed the media, he stated that the plane crash happened around 7:30 a.m. local time. The plane had just taken off from Manchester-Boston Regional Airport and was en route to Maine.
Minutes later, the first emergency crews arrived at the scene near Wiley Hill Road and Colonial Drive and confirmed that the twin-engine Beechcraft 99 cargo plane had landed between 70 and 100 feet from the residence.
The pilot was seriously injured. He was taken to a Boston hospital where he is listed in critical condition.
Several neighbors spoke to news outlets, sharing their accounts of what happened.
One family shared security footage that captured the crash with NBC 10 Boston.
Brian Croteau, a resident who rushed to the scene to help, told the outlet that the pilot was “pinched against the panel” and “trying to get his seat belt off” when he found him.
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Another resident, Eddie Saktanaset, recalled his family’s confusion: “We just heard a loud bang behind the house, you know, like the sound of lightning. A lot of trees were falling.”
Butler called the crash “an incredibly high-risk, low-frequency event that was handled professionally and competently by members of the Londonderry Fire Department.”
“It was one of those situations where you don’t have a lot of experience, so that’s where training comes into play,” he said.
Firefighters near the crash site of the smaller plane.
AP Photo/Charles Krupa
Debris was scattered around the plane and the area was taped off. Londonderry Deputy Fire Chief Phillip LeBlanc told 7NEWS the plane was carrying just over 250 gallons of fuel that spilled into the woods where it landed.
The smell of gasoline was felt throughout the neighborhood after the crash, and Butler said crews are working to reduce the pollution.
“We have been actively developing the mitigation area,” he said. “We have some wetlands behind the residences where the plane crashed that we are taking into account as part of our increasing measures that are ongoing.”
According to a press release shared by the Londonderry Police Department, the FAA and NTSB are involved in an active investigation into the situation.
“I am deeply grateful for the response of the first responders to get to the scene as quickly as possible and I am very appreciative of all the joint efforts we have had so far,” said Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais.
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