1 dead, 2 injured after small plane crashes in neighborhood on Long Island
LINDENHURST, Long Island (WABC) -- One person was killed and two others were injured after a small plane crashed into a neighborhood on Long Island.
The plane crashed near 5th Street and North Wellwood Avenue in Lindenhurst around 3 p.m. Sunday while on approach to Republic Airport in Farmingdale.
The FAA says there were three people on board the privately-owned single-engine Piper PA 28. No one on the ground was injured.
The FAA says the plane took off from Republic Airport around 2:18 p.m. for sightseeing. A short time later, the pilot issued a mayday signal and said there was smoke in the cockpit. The aircraft then turned back toward the airport to make an emergency landing, but instead it crashed in the street -- approximately 300 feet south of the LIRR tracks.
One person was pronounced dead at the scene. The other two passengers on the plane were transported via helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital in critical condition. The names of the victims have not yet been released.
Eyewitness news spoke with neighbor Chris Baldassano, who took video of his block. He says the crash happened way too close to his home across the street. He said he not only heard the crash, but actually felt the impact inside the home.
"I ran to front of house, saw fireball and plume of smoke. Ran outside, made sure everybody down the block were out of houses," Baldassano said.
Baldassano believes the plane clipped the tree line that borders the train tracks right before crashing.
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