Cedarville student one of five injured in fiery small plane crash in Pennsylvania

According to Federal Aviation Administration reports, five people were on the plane, a Beechcraft Bonanza registered to Jam Zoom Yayos LLC in Manheim. The FAA said the plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Lancaster into a retirement community, hitting cars and starting a post-crash fire.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

FlightAware said the plane was bound for the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport.

The Associated Press reported that all five people from the plane were taken to Lancaster General Hospital, two of whom were flown and one of whom was driven to Lehigh Valley Health Network’s burn center.

Nobody on the ground was hurt.

Citing local TV station WGAL, the Associated Press identified the pilot as Matt White, and said the passengers were members of White’s family. Matt White is a board member of Venture Jets, but the company reportedly said the plane was White’s personal aircraft.

The state of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection identified the location of the crash as the Brethren Village in Manheim Twp., Lancaster County, just south of the airport.

The department said that the plane and a dozen vehicles caught fire, adding that it believes an unknown amount of the plane’s jet fuel ran off into a nearby storm drain, and an environmental contractor was working to clean the fuel in the storm water system.

The Associated Press reported that air traffic control audio captured Matt White say the aircraft had an open door, and needed to return to the airport. An air traffic controller can be heard clearing the plane to land before saying “Pull up!” Shortly after someone can be heard saying the aircraft was down “just behind the terminal in the parking lot street area.”

In a statement, Cedarville University President Thomas White said, “We thank the Lord that, by God’s grace, all survived this accident,” later adding, “Please join me in lifting up Judah, his family, and everyone involved in this accident to the Lord. We are praying for full recoveries and for God’s peace and strength to surround them.”