Author Topic: N6678P Engine Failure/Crash at SAT  (Read 5278 times)

Offline Kmeyers6

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N6678P Engine Failure/Crash at SAT
« on: December 01, 2019, 09:04:59 PM »
RIP :(



Offline KB4TEZ

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Re: N6678P Engine Failure/Crash at SAT
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2019, 09:14:44 AM »
SAN ANTONIO — Three people are dead after a small plane crashed into a busy stretch of road on the North Side around 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

According to fire officials, the single-engine plane had taken off from Sugar Land Airport and was headed for Boerne when it began to experience engine trouble and tried to divert to the San Antonio International Airport. The plane came up just short of the airport and crashed along the 600 block of West Rhapsody Drive, killing all three people on board. Fire Chief Charles Hood identified those killed as two men and one woman.

"Units arrived and found the plane almost on the sidewalk, kind of the sidewalk, half of the street," Hood said. "There were no commercial buildings hit, no apartment complexes. We are confirming three fatalities at this time."

Hood said crews performed a 20-block scan of the area surrounding the crash site to make sure parts of the plane did not break off and hit any homes, and added the area will remain blocked off for "quite some time."

Considering the location of the crash is in such a heavily traveled part of town, Hood said he was grateful no one else was injured.

"As you can imagine, we're very fortunate," he said. "This plane could have dropped on [U.S.] 281, it could have dropped on an apartment complex. As tragic as it is, it could have been much worse."

Neighbor Sheila Cleckler witnessed the plane crash right outside her home.

"I saw the plane come over and it just took a nosedive and crashed," Cleckler said. "It made like a little whirly sound. They were asking me if it sounded like it hit anything, and besides the ground, I couldn't hear anything. But it made a whoosh sound when it was diving."

She indicated it's not unusual to see low-flying planes so close to the airport, but this plane seemed to be flying lower than usual, saying "It just happened so quickly."

Catherine Law, 26, lives near the corner of West Rhapsody and Persuasion Drive. She told us she heard a loud noise and thought it was a car crash at first, until she looked out her window.

"I didn't even think about looking out my window until I saw 10 or so police cars and ambulances and first responders come down the street," Law said. "I thought I heard a car crash into some dumpsters. But that's not what it was at all."

Chief Hood said fire officials are awaiting a conference call with the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration to coordinate the next phase of the investigation.