Perkasie plane crash: Ill-fated plane entered tailspin before crashing into Bucks County neighborhood
PERKASIE, Pa. - Federal investigators said an ill-fated plane was performing maneuvers when it entered a tailspin and crashed into a Bucks County neighborhood last month killing both aboard.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Thursday shared its preliminary report on the Feb. 24 crash of a Beech 35-C33 in Hilltown, Pennsylvania. Investigators said the pilot and owner of the airplane, identified earlier as 55-year-old Brian Filipini was training for the commercial pilot practical exam.
Filipini and 74-year-old Alfred George Piranian - a flight instructor - took off from Doylestown Airport around 4:30 p.m. Investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration said the plane was headed to Gunden Airstrip, a rarely used plot of grass in Bucks County.
The owner of Gunden told FOX 29 that only a handful of planes have used the private strip in his 20 years of ownership, and he wasn't aware of the plane's plan to land.
According to the NTSB's report, the plane was "performing maneuvers about 2,000 ft mean sea level when it entered a left spin and descended into a residential street." The deadly crash was captured on a nearby home's doorbell camera that is now part of the investigation.
The plane exploded into flames upon impacted and consumed the cockpit, according to investigators. The impact sent shrapnel flying through the sleepy residential neighborhood, including a piece of the propeller that shot into a home.
Miraculously, no one on the ground was injured during the crash and the property damage was minimal. Hilltown Township Police Officer Christopher Englehart called Filipini a ‘hero’ for managing to direct the failing plane away from residences.
MORE ON PERKASIE PLANE CRASH
- Perkasie plane crash: Victims identified after deadly incident
- Perkasie plane crash: Airplane was heading for rarely used airstrip before crashing in neighborhood
- 2 dead in small plane crash in Perkasie, officials say
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