3 killed in small plane crash in Easton
Brian Walls took this footage of the crash with his cellphone.
By David Abel, Tania deLuzuriaga, Emily Sweeney, and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff, and John M. Guilfoil and Anne Baker, Globe Correspondents
EASTON -- A cancer patient, his wife, and their pilot were killed this morning when a single-engine airplane operated by Angel Flight New England crashed in a parking lot on its way from a Long Island, N.Y. airport to Logan International Airport in Boston.
The crash at 10:25 a.m. killed Robert and Donna Gregory of Riverhead, N.Y., and pilot Joe E. Baker of Brookfield, Conn., authorities said.
“Sadly, we learned the Angel Flight patient and his wife and the pilot were lost,” said Amy Camerlin, a spokeswoman for Angel Flight, an organization of volunteer pilots that helps needy patients get medical care. “They were traveling to Boston for medical treatment. Our deepest sympathy goes out to the patient’s and pilot’s families.”
Robert Gregory was headed to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for treatment. He suffered from chronic lymphocytic leukemia, according to a blog written by his wife that chronicled his struggle with the disease.
The plane crashed in the back row of a blacktop parking lot of a Hannaford's supermarket on Robert Drive near Route 106. No one was injured on the ground.
“It was like a fireball," said Darcy Stillman, 35, the manager of the Tanfastic Tanning Salon in the shopping plaza. "We could see there were people inside [the plane], but there was nothing you could do. It was horrible.
“We watched them burn … we felt helpless," said Stillman as tears dripped down her cheeks. "That poor family, that poor family, that poor family."
The spokeswoman for Angel Flight New England said today in an e-mail that the Easton crash was the organization's first injury or fatality after flying over 7 million miles in its 12-year existence. Angel Flight New England is a member of the Air Charity Network, which is described on its website as the world's largest charitable air transportation network with more than 7,500 volunteer pilots.
At least two other Angel Flight chapters in the network have had aircraft crashes this summer. On July 17, an Angel Flight Southeast plane carrying a cancer patient returning home from treatment crashed during takeoff at an airport in Tampa, Fla., killing the pilot, the patient, and a family friend. In Iowa City on June 3, a plane operated by Angel Flight Central crashed, killing a toddler and injuring her mother and the pilot.
The registered owner of the aircraft, Janet Keene, said in a telephone interview from her home in Brookfield that she had inherited the four-passenger Beechcraft Bonanza, which Baker had used on more than a dozen previous mercy missions.
The plane was built in 1956 and originally belonged to James Roosevelt, the son of former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Keene said. Her father acquired the aircraft through a friend in a business deal. The plane had been consistently updated with a new engine and radio system, and underwent an inspection every year, she said.
“It was really a brand-new plane; if there were any problems, it wouldn’t have been cleared to fly,” Keene said. “I’m certainly sad about the loss of the plane, but I’m far more sad about the loss of life. I’m glad, though, it was being used for good."
Baker was a family friend who frequently used the plane, taking Keene’s family on trips. The aircraft was based at Igor Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Bridgeport, Conn.
“It was like it was his plane,” said Keene, who said Baker had a wife and children. “We only used it when he took us flying.”
Richard Bunker, an inspector for the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission who rushed to the scene, said investigators were trying to determine "what may have transpired. We don’t know at this time."
Laura Foscolo, station manager at Shelter Aviation, which services aircraft at the Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach on Long Island, said the flight left this morning at 9:10, after just about 15 minutes on the ground.
Easton Fire Chief Thomas Stone said that a last-minute maneuver by the pilot may have avoided casualties in the shopping complex, where the burned wings stretched across three parking spaces.
“One hundred feet in either direction and he could have hit some cars," Stone said.
Easton Deputy Police Chief Allen Krajick said that he saw the plane flying low under the clouds when it appeared to "stall or spin." Other witnesses have told investigators that the aircraft appeared to be having trouble staying aloft before it nose-dived into the parking lot of the shopping complex, which also includes a Target and a TJ Maxx.
“We’re very fortunate no one else was hurt,” Krajick said.
Bridget Dumoulin, 40, was shopping in Hannaford's for pizza-making ingredients for her son's dinner when, "there was a big explosion and the building shook.”
“At first I thought he hit the building," Dumoulin said. "People rushed over and tried to help, but it was just too late. The flames were too intense.”
At the nearby Bank of Easton, branch manager Patti Desgrosseilliers heard a loud "boom" and looked outside to see the fire some 500 feet from her window.
“We ran outside, we saw the flames and the smoke, and we could just see the tail of the plane,” Desgrosseilliers said.
Angel Flight issued a statement saying the organization was "deeply saddened" by the crash and that "our sympathies go out to the families of those involved."
“We have flown over 53,000 children and adults and flown over 30,000 flights to medical treatment," said Camerlin, the spokeswoman for Angel Flight New England. "Flying over 7 million miles in our 12 years of existence and we have never before had an injury or fatality.”
(George Rizer/Globe Staff)
Comment
Permalink
EmailThis blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
