Witnesses of Lancaster plane crash describe the scene as an inferno
Updated: 11:24 PM EDT Mar 9, 2025
HAPPENED AND WHAT YOU’VE BEEN LEARNING THIS EVENING. WELL, TONIGHT, MCKENNA, THE PARKING LOT HERE AT BRETHREN VILLAGE ALONG ROUTE 501, IN MANHEIM TOWNSHIP, LANCASTER COUNTY, IS STILL CORDONED OFF. AS YOU CAN SEE, THAT PLANE IS STILL SITTING THERE, ALONG WITH A NUMBER OF BURNED OUT VEHICLES. AND I CAN TELL YOU THERE IS A STRONG ODOR OF FUEL IN THE AIR. THERE WAS A HUGE EMERGENCY RESPONSE LATE THIS AFTERNOON WHEN THIS PLANE CRASHED SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF FROM LANCASTER AIRPORT, AND THERE WERE MANY, MANY BYSTANDERS AND ONLOOKERS. IT IS NOT A SCENE THAT EYEWITNESSES WILL SOON FORGET. IT WAS JUST AN INFERNO OF OF FIRE AND SMOKE. THE SMALL PLANE CRASHED SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF AT 318 IN THE AFTERNOON FROM LANCASTER AIRPORT. IT ENDED UP NOSE DOWN WITH ITS TAIL RESTING ON A VEHICLE IN A PARKING LOT AT BRETHREN VILLAGE. JUST AS WE TURNED IN OFF OF 501, I SAW THIS PLANE COME DOWN AT AN ANGLE, AND AS IT HIT THE BIG FIREBALL SHOT UP AS HIGH AS THE AS HIGH AS THE BUILDING. AND THEN BLACK SMOKE AND FIRE ALL OVER THE PLACE. BRIAN PIPKIN, WHO’S THE EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT AT MENNONITE DISASTER SERVICES, SAW THE PLANE GO DOWN, STOPPED AND RAN TOWARD DANGER. THE FIRE WAS SO HOT THAT IT WAS COVERING MY FACE UP AND THINGS WERE POPPING. PART OF THE PLANE WAS FALLING AND I WAS WALKING OVER IT THINKING TO MYSELF, THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION TO BE IN. BUT I WANTED TO HELP SO AND I UNFORTUNATELY DID NOT SEE ANYONE. FIVE PEOPLE WERE ON BOARD THE SINGLE ENGINE BEECHCRAFT BONANZA. THEY WERE ALL TRANSPORTED TO HOSPITALS. THE FIRE HEAVILY DAMAGED FIVE VEHICLES AND CAUSED SOME OTHER DAMAGE TO SEVEN OTHERS. NO ONE ON THE GROUND WAS HURT. THE FACT THAT WE HAVE A PLANE CRASH WHERE EVERYBODY SURVIVES AND NOBODY ON THE GROUND IS HURT IS A IS A WONDERFUL THING. AND ANYTIME YOU HAVE TRANSPORTATION, YOU ALWAYS HAVE RISK. LANCASTER TOWNSHIP BONANZA 347. MIKE HAS AN OPEN DOOR. WE NEED TO RETURN FOR LANDING. THE PILOT HAD REPORTED TO THE TOWER THAT A DOOR WAS OPEN ON THE PLANE, AND THEY NEEDED TO RETURN TO THE AIRPORT. THE PLANE WAS CLEARED TO LAND, BUT MOMENTS LATER PULL UP WENT DOWN. THAT’S SCARY WHEN YOU SEE SOMETHING LIKE THAT HAPPEN BECAUSE YOU KNOW SOMEBODY’S GOING TO BE INJURED. EAST HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP JACQUES, THE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD AND THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION ARE NOW INVESTIGATING THIS SMALL PLANE CRASH. NOW, FIVE OF THOSE PASSENGERS THAT WERE ON THE PLANE WERE INITIALLY TRANSPORTED TO LANCASTER GENERAL HOSPITAL. I JUST GOT WORD TONIGHT FROM A SPOKESMAN FOR THE HOSPITAL THAT TWO OF THOSE PATIENTS WERE AIRLIFTED TO LEHIGH VALLEY BURN CENTER, AND ONE WAS TAKEN TO THE LEHIGH VALLEY BURN CENTER BY AMBULANCE. AND TWO PATIENTS REMAIN AT LANCASTER GENERAL HOSPITA
Witnesses of Lancaster plane crash describe the scene as an inferno
Updated: 11:24 PM EDT Mar 9, 2025
Brian Pipkin, an executive assistant at Mennonite Disaster Services, saw the plane go down, stopped, and ran toward danger. The small plane crashed near Brethren Village shortly after taking off from Lancaster Airport at 3:18 p.m.It ended up nose down with its tail on a vehicle in the parking lot. “It was just an inferno of fire and smoke,” Pipkin said. “The fire was so hot that it was covering my face up. Things were popping, part of the plane was falling, and I was walking over it, thinking to myself, this is a very dangerous situation to be in. But I wanted to help. I unfortunately did not see anyone.”Five people were on board the single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza. They were all transported to local hospitals, and their condition has not yet been released. The fire heavily damaged five vehicles and caused some damage to seven others. No one on the ground was hurt. “The fact that we have a plane crash where everybody survives and no one on the ground hurt is a wonderful thing,” said Manheim Township fire Chief Duane Fisher.The pilot had reported to the tower that a door was open on the plane, and they needed to return to the airport. The plane was cleared to land but moments later went down. “That’s scary when you see something like that happen because you know somebody is going to be injured,” said witness Melvin Neff.
LANCASTER, Pa. —Brian Pipkin, an executive assistant at Mennonite Disaster Services, saw the plane go down, stopped, and ran toward danger.
The small plane crashed near Brethren Village shortly after taking off from Lancaster Airport at 3:18 p.m.
It ended up nose down with its tail on a vehicle in the parking lot.
“It was just an inferno of fire and smoke,” Pipkin said. “The fire was so hot that it was covering my face up. Things were popping, part of the plane was falling, and I was walking over it, thinking to myself, this is a very dangerous situation to be in. But I wanted to help. I unfortunately did not see anyone.”
Five people were on board the single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza. They were all transported to local hospitals, and their condition has not yet been released.
The fire heavily damaged five vehicles and caused some damage to seven others. No one on the ground was hurt.
“The fact that we have a plane crash where everybody survives and no one on the ground hurt is a wonderful thing,” said Manheim Township fire Chief Duane Fisher.
The pilot had reported to the tower that a door was open on the plane, and they needed to return to the airport. The plane was cleared to land but moments later went down.
“That’s scary when you see something like that happen because you know somebody is going to be injured,” said witness Melvin Neff.