A single-engine airplane heading to upstate New York has crashed on a Long Island, N.Y., street after taking off from a nearby airport.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is currently investigating the April 10 crash of the single-engine airplane named Piper 28.
Both the pilot and passenger were injured.
According to officials, the crash happened just after 7 p.m., as the pilot was circling back to the airport—he'd lost power from his engine, reported ABC News.
The plane crashed at an intersection in Bayport.
Chief of the Department Robert Fleming, said there were about eight responders on the scene, and the fire department arrived relatively quickly on the scene. The fire was as “high as a telephone poll,” Fleming told Epoch Times.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy Sini says local firefighters rescued the 35-year-old pilot, identified as Scott Clifford, from the burning plane. Clifford, who suffered a head injury and two broken legs, was in serious condition, Sini said.
The passenger, 65-year-old Michael Rome, suffered head injuries but is expected to recover, according to officials.
According to Fleming, both men were admitted to Stony Brook Hospital, and are in stable condition, though he said one of them received 30 stitches.
None of the surrounding homes were affected.
“This is nothing short of a miracle, both that the airplane did not hit any houses and any other individuals,” Commissioner Sini said. “We’re talking about a Sunday evening at 7, clearly people could be out and about.”
Fleming was also amazed that everyone came out alive.
“It was a miracle how he [the pilot] didn’t hit anything or anyone,” Fleming said, adding that there are usually a lot of kids playing in the area.
