A pilot was killed Sunday morning when a small plane crashed shortly after takeoff near Lancaster Airport in Warwick Township, Pennsylvania.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the single-engine Piper PA-46 went down in a field just north of the airport around 8 a.m. The pilot, the only person on board, was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities have not yet released his identity.
Sgt. Adam Webber of the Northern Lancaster County Regional Police confirmed there were no other injuries and no damage reported on the ground.
Nearby resident David Welden told WGAL he was on his porch when he heard the crash. He drove to the site to help, only to find the pilot had not survived. “It’s a horrific thing to witness,” he said.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash. The cause has not been determined.
Lancaster Airport, located in Lititz about six miles north of the city of Lancaster, serves limited commercial traffic with flights to Orlando, Pittsburgh, and Washington-Dulles.
This is the third aviation incident near the airport in recent months. In March, five people were injured when a single-engine plane crashed near a retirement community in Lititz. And on Thursday, another small aircraft made an emergency landing due to a landing gear malfunction; no one was hurt in that incident.
Source: WGAL, Philadelphia Inquirer