Pilot, Wife Suffered Broken Bones, Cracked Ribs In Crash Landing On Wayne Golf Course But Feel Lucky To Be Alive
WAYNE, Pa. (CBS) -- Federal aviation officials are getting an up-close look at the small plane that made an emergency landing on a golf course in Wayne on Wednesday. Eyewitness News spoke with the pilot briefly on the phone.
He says he and his wife, who was in this small plane with him, have a few broken bones and cracked ribs. But they feel lucky to be alive and so do people who live near the area where the plane crashed.
"I'm glad it didn't explode," Wayne resident Liz Anderson said.
Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived in Wayne Thursday to figure out how the small plane that made a crash landing at St. Davids Golf Club in Wayne Wednesday afternoon.
"It came really close to our house and I'm glad that it didn't," Anderson said.
Shorin is the pilot's neighbor in Ambler, Montgomery County, and has previously flown with him.
"He's very competent. He does everything by the book. He has a checklist, he's very thorough," Shorin said.
Investigators are still working to determine what caused the pilot to make an emergency landing. Authorities say the plane is a single-engine Cirrus SR22.
"It's not unusual for that particular model airplane to have an engine failure," Philadelphia-based aviation law expert Arthur Wolk said. "There's been over 125 engine failures in that particular model airplane. That is the weak point of it. The engine has a tendency to run a little hot and that reduces its reliability."
The pilot says he and his wife should be released from the hospital Friday. His neighbors hope for a quick recovery.
"If he gets another plane, I'll go up with him tomorrow," Shorin said.
Federal aviation officials say it could be several months until they figure out what happened before the crash landing.
The Cirrus Aircraft public relations manager, Nadia Haidar, released the following statement to CBS3:
It is premature to provide any commentary since the investigation into that incident is just beginning, and any statements made at this juncture as to causal factors, including the comments made by the accident attorney quoted in your last story, are mere speculation.
