A light aircraft was forced to make an crash landing on the roof of an office block in southern California close to a busy freeway after the plane lost power.
The single-engine Piper PA-28, came down on the top of a state parole building in Pomona, east of Los Angeles yesterday afternoon punching a hole in the roof.
Pictures from the scene showed the plane lying across the roof of the building with the tail in the air but there was no sign of fire or smoke.
It is understood that the plane was heading to Brackett Field Airport in the nearby city of La Verne when it crashed.
Melanie Flores, a supervising dispatcher with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, says one person was aboard the plane they were taken to the hospital as a precaution.
She also added that the pilot missed crashing through the building by just 50 feet.
Eyewtinesses who saw the plane from 57 Freeway said it was flying extremely low before it crash landed.
Kelly Vela told ABC News: 'We saw it hit an it kind of bounced. I was waiting to see an explosion or something but nothing happened. It was kind of just a hard hit and a bounce.'
While Eduardo Ramirez told the channel he climbed a tree to get on top of the building to help the pilot.
He added: 'As soon as I got onto the roof and saw the plane I thought he was dead
'When I talked to him he said that he had a broken ankle. So he just wanted to wait a little bit, he was in shock, he just wanted to wait a little bit and relax. So I was just there with him trying to keep him calm.'
The pilot is now recovering in hospital from minor injuries and told paramedics he only hit his head and his legs from the force of the impact.
The Federal Aviation and Administration and the LA County Fire department are investigating the cause of the crash.
(Culled from dailymail.co.uk)
No comments:
Post a Comment