Plane Crash in NJ

[Steff]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PLA...EMPLATE=DEFAULT

 

Plane Skids Off Runway, Crashes in N.J.

 

By WAYNE PARRY

Associated Press Writer

 

 

 

 

 

TETERBORO, N.J. (AP) -- A corporate jet hurtled off the end of a runway while attempting to take off from Teterboro Airport on Wednesday, speeding across a highway during the morning rush hour and slamming into a warehouse. At least 14 people were injured, one critically.

 

One witness said a pilot crawled out of the wreckage and told him the crew lost control of the plane.

 

The plane struck at least one car on the highway.

 

It was headed for Midway Airport in Chicago when the accident happened around 7:20 a.m., said Greg Martin, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington. Another FAA spokesman, Jim Peters, said the jet was carrying 12 passengers and two crew members.

 

One witness 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.

 

Video from television station helicopters showed wheel tracks, plainly visible in snow, that ran straight off the end of the runway, through a fence and a snow bank and then across six-lane U.S. 46.

 

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 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 identified the aircraft as a twin-engine Canadair Challenger 600, "a type of small regional business/charter jet" that 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 Dick 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.

 

The FAA Web site says plane was registered to a company called 448 Alliance LLC, and gave 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.

 

At the warehouse, owned by clothing company Strawberry, employee Luis Ruiz said about 200 people usually work there but only a handful were inside when the plane hit 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, including the pilot and copilot, 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.

 

The airport, in the northern New Jersey suburbs 12 miles from midtown Manhattan, was closed after the crash. Once used by 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. It had 202,720 arrivals and departures in 2004, a 4 percent increase from 2002, said Lou Martinez, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, as well as Newark, LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports.

[Brian]

Steff, you need to start posting more positives stories. All this stuff is bringing me down, man!

I saw video of this when I woke up. Plane was in the side of a building. God Bless everyone on board.