- By Dan Veaner
- News
10/07 - Around four o'clock in the afternoon a small plane crashed into a neighborhood on Reach Run, off of East Shore Circle. The plane was coming in for a landing after flying over the lake in heavy fog. It came in too low, clipping a tree with one wing, which broke off the plane. The other wing, or something hit a house, and then the fuselage, with only the pilot on board, came to rest in the front yard of a house there.
"He threaded the needle," said Sheriff's Deputy Brad Covert. "He was lucky." It seemed like a miracle that the plane ended up crashing between two houses, and not into a house. The pilot was able to get out of the plane on his own.
"The pilot misjudged his altitude and impacted the ground," said Deputy Covert. "He's been transported to Cayuga Medical Center to be treated for his injuries. I don't know the extent of his injuries, but he was conscious and alert when we interviewed him here at the scene." It was later reported that the pilot survived with only minor injuries.
"Something impacted the house," said Deputy Covert. "There was a lot of debris coming with the aircraft through the houses. It could have been debris off the aircraft, it could have been from the trees, because the plane impacted the trees before it impacted the ground.
The Lansing Fire Department responded to the crash along with Bangs Ambulance, The Tompkins County Sheriff's Department and the State Police. The Airport Fire Department parked a truck across the street and blew foam over the plane as a precaution against leaking fuel. There was no fire.
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