plane crashes in to factory in N.J.
This is so Scary...
The Associated Press
Updated: 11:58 a.m. ET Feb. 2, 2005TETERBORO, N.J. - A corporate jet skidded off the runway while taking off from Teterboro Airport on Wednesday, hurtling across a highway during the morning rush hour before slamming into a warehouse. Fifteen people were taken to hospitals, and one was in critical condition.
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One witness said a pilot crawled out of the wreckage and told him the crew had lost control of the plane.
A traffic helicopter pilot for New York radio station WCBS said the plane went off the runway and broke through a fence. It then cut across Route 46, striking two cars.
The jet was headed for Midway Airport in Chicago, said Greg Martin, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. Earlier reports said two people were missing but they were later accounted for as being injured.
'Sliding and skidding'
One witness to the crash said the plane never made it off the ground after “sliding and skidding” down the runway.
“Usually we see them lift off, but this one just went straight and started scratching the ground. There were sparks shooting out all over the place,” said Joseph Massaro, a psychologist who lives nearby.
“It was so scary. Everything was flying apart. There was a big hole in the building and I heard screaming and yelling,” Massaro said.
Witness Robert Sosa told WNBC-TV he saw the plane crash into the building. “Two guys came off with their hand cuts,” Sosa said. “The pilot said he dragged himself out. He literally crawled out like a baby, and all the other people just walked out normal.”
“He said as they tried to airborne before five minutes past (7 a.m.), they just lost control and they couldn’t airborne the plane. They went straight through, 100 miles per hour,” Sosa said.
Martin said communication between the air traffic control and the aircraft was routine, and that the aircraft had been cleared for takeoff. The temperature at 7 a.m. was about 22 degrees, the National Weather Service said. The weather was clear and wind was calm.
Martin described the aircraft as a twin-engine Canadair Challenger 600, “a type of small regional business/charter jet,” which can carry 12 to 15 passengers.
A similar plane, a Canadair CL-601 Challenger, crashed in December while trying to take off from Montrose, Colo., killing a son of NBC Sports chairman **** Ebersol and two others. After that crash, the National Transportation Safety Board warned pilots of smaller planes to run their hands along their aircraft’s wings before takeoff to make sure tiny amounts of ice haven’t formed that could increase the risk of an accident.
An employee of the warehouse, owned by clothing company Strawberry, said about 200 people usually work there but only a handful were inside because of the early hour. One worker was injured and taken to a hospital, he said.
Dr. Joseph Feldman of Hackensack University Medical Center said 12 people were taken there and three were admitted, one in critical condition.
The pilot was to be treated and released but the co-pilot was in serious condition with multiple fractures to the lower part of the body, Feldman said. The patient in critical condition had been in a car that was struck by the aircraft, he said.
Eleven of the people taken to Hackensack needed to be showered to remove jet fuel, Feldman said. “They had a fair amount on them, where you could smell it, but none of them were suffering side effects from the fuel,” he said.
Two people, a flight attendant and a man who had been in a car, were taken to Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, said hospital spokeswoman Katherine Kakogiannis. The flight attendant had minor injuries and she didn’t know the condition of the other person.
Tracks show path through snow
Television reports showed smoke billowing from the building and skid marks leading to the crash site. The tire tracks, plainly visible in snow, ran straight off the end of the runway, through a fence and a snowbank and then across the highway.
The FAA Web site says plane is registered to a company called 448 Alliance LLC, and gives an address in Dallas. Directory assistance has no company with that name, but does show a DDH Aviation at the same address. No one answered the phone there.
Route 46 closed in both directions as did the airport, which is located in northern New Jersey 12 miles from midtown Manhattan.
Once considered a destination for weekend recreational fliers, Teterboro has grown into one of the nation’s busiest small airports, catering to corporate jets looking to avoid the hassles of larger airports.
Nearly a year ago, on Feb. 26, a Gulfstream 3 registered to 448 Alliance rolled off the runway into the mud at Atlanta’s Peachtree-DeKalb Airport after a snowstorm. No one was injured.
© 2005 The Associated
The Associated Press
Updated: 11:58 a.m. ET Feb. 2, 2005TETERBORO, N.J. - A corporate jet skidded off the runway while taking off from Teterboro Airport on Wednesday, hurtling across a highway during the morning rush hour before slamming into a warehouse. Fifteen people were taken to hospitals, and one was in critical condition.
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One witness said a pilot crawled out of the wreckage and told him the crew had lost control of the plane.
A traffic helicopter pilot for New York radio station WCBS said the plane went off the runway and broke through a fence. It then cut across Route 46, striking two cars.
The jet was headed for Midway Airport in Chicago, said Greg Martin, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. Earlier reports said two people were missing but they were later accounted for as being injured.
'Sliding and skidding'
One witness to the crash said the plane never made it off the ground after “sliding and skidding” down the runway.
“Usually we see them lift off, but this one just went straight and started scratching the ground. There were sparks shooting out all over the place,” said Joseph Massaro, a psychologist who lives nearby.
“It was so scary. Everything was flying apart. There was a big hole in the building and I heard screaming and yelling,” Massaro said.
Witness Robert Sosa told WNBC-TV he saw the plane crash into the building. “Two guys came off with their hand cuts,” Sosa said. “The pilot said he dragged himself out. He literally crawled out like a baby, and all the other people just walked out normal.”
“He said as they tried to airborne before five minutes past (7 a.m.), they just lost control and they couldn’t airborne the plane. They went straight through, 100 miles per hour,” Sosa said.
Martin said communication between the air traffic control and the aircraft was routine, and that the aircraft had been cleared for takeoff. The temperature at 7 a.m. was about 22 degrees, the National Weather Service said. The weather was clear and wind was calm.
Martin described the aircraft as a twin-engine Canadair Challenger 600, “a type of small regional business/charter jet,” which can carry 12 to 15 passengers.
A similar plane, a Canadair CL-601 Challenger, crashed in December while trying to take off from Montrose, Colo., killing a son of NBC Sports chairman **** Ebersol and two others. After that crash, the National Transportation Safety Board warned pilots of smaller planes to run their hands along their aircraft’s wings before takeoff to make sure tiny amounts of ice haven’t formed that could increase the risk of an accident.
An employee of the warehouse, owned by clothing company Strawberry, said about 200 people usually work there but only a handful were inside because of the early hour. One worker was injured and taken to a hospital, he said.
Dr. Joseph Feldman of Hackensack University Medical Center said 12 people were taken there and three were admitted, one in critical condition.
The pilot was to be treated and released but the co-pilot was in serious condition with multiple fractures to the lower part of the body, Feldman said. The patient in critical condition had been in a car that was struck by the aircraft, he said.
Eleven of the people taken to Hackensack needed to be showered to remove jet fuel, Feldman said. “They had a fair amount on them, where you could smell it, but none of them were suffering side effects from the fuel,” he said.
Two people, a flight attendant and a man who had been in a car, were taken to Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, said hospital spokeswoman Katherine Kakogiannis. The flight attendant had minor injuries and she didn’t know the condition of the other person.
Tracks show path through snow
Television reports showed smoke billowing from the building and skid marks leading to the crash site. The tire tracks, plainly visible in snow, ran straight off the end of the runway, through a fence and a snowbank and then across the highway.
The FAA Web site says plane is registered to a company called 448 Alliance LLC, and gives an address in Dallas. Directory assistance has no company with that name, but does show a DDH Aviation at the same address. No one answered the phone there.
Route 46 closed in both directions as did the airport, which is located in northern New Jersey 12 miles from midtown Manhattan.
Once considered a destination for weekend recreational fliers, Teterboro has grown into one of the nation’s busiest small airports, catering to corporate jets looking to avoid the hassles of larger airports.
Nearly a year ago, on Feb. 26, a Gulfstream 3 registered to 448 Alliance rolled off the runway into the mud at Atlanta’s Peachtree-DeKalb Airport after a snowstorm. No one was injured.
© 2005 The Associated
