Gilbert neighborhood wakes up to plane crash
A Gilbert neighborhood woke up Sunday to the sight of a fiery plane crash that destroyed a home.
Although the flames from the crash were gone, the smell of smoke and charred material filled the air near the house. As bystanders held their phones out to take pictures, a man walked out of the destroyed home, dragging what appeared to be remnants of the plane, including its engine.
At approximately 7:19 p.m. on Saturday the plane crashed into a home in the 400 block of Baylor Lane near Gilbert and Ray Roads. The two occupants of the home were able to get out uninjured, Gilbert fire officials said. The house caught fire, with plane parts hitting the house and backyard.
The plane's four passengers — all skydivers, according to Gilbert fire Capt. Gary Hildebrandt — bailed out of the plane and landed safely. The pilot, also a skydiver, jumped later and landed in a field about half a mile from the crash site. He was burned and taken to the hospital. Hildebrandt said Sunday the pilot, who officials did note identify, was in stable condition but suffered second- and third-degree burns to his upper body.
Significant damage to the home could be seen Sunday as crews worked to clean up the area and investigate the crash. Area residents gathered around the crash to see the damage for themselves and talk about what they saw the night before.
Bill Boykin, of Gilbert, was at a local Starbucks sitting outside with some friends and saw the scene unfold.
Boykin saw the plane circling overhead about two times. Then he saw the plane catch fire and saw the skydivers jump out of the plane, then moments later watched the plane fall from the sky. He to the scene Sunday to see the damage.
"As he (the pilot) was coming to the southwest, that's when you heard 'boom,'" he said.
Ted Lucas, of Gilbert, had a front row seat to the plane crash. Lucas said he was in his kitchen, while his wife was in the living room watching TV on Saturday night in their home across from the crash site. He said that he heard a boom and automatically thought that something fell in his garage.
"I started to get my shoes on to check out what it was but at that time the explosion happened," Lucas said.
He and his wife rushed outside and saw the house across from them on fire. Lucas said he's only met the couple once before, and said he was surprised that they didn't get hurt.
"They were very lucky," he said.
Witnesses recall harrowing moments after pilot bailed from plane that hit Gilbert home
Hildebrandt said the couple in the home was staying with friends after the crash. He said the clean up is expected to last for the rest of the day Sunday and into Monday.
The situation was unusual because all of the passengers already were equipped with parachutes, said Brent Bowen, dean of the College of Aviation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott.
"We don't teach a lot about abandoning an aircraft because it's not something we really do," Bowen said. "But you never know how much time they had."
Jump pilots are trained to get the aircraft to a secluded area in the case of an imminent crash, Bowen said.