A single-engine plane crashed into a utility pole in the Riverwest neighborhood Saturday night, knocking out electricity and dangling precariously from power lines for nearly two hours until its pilot was rescued unharmed.
The plane crashed in the alley between Humboldt Blvd. and Weil St. on Clarke St. at around 6:15 p.m., said Anne E. Schwartz, Milwaukee Police Department spokeswoman.
The plane was suspended, nose down, just 3 feet from the ground, apparently propped up by a broken utility pole and power lines, with pilot David J. Betts, 37, of Elkhorn trapped inside.
No one on the ground was hurt, Schwartz said.
Initial reports indicate that Betts' plane approached an airstrip at Timmerman Airport several times during a heavy downpour, Schwartz said. He circled back each time without landing and finally headed east before dropping off the radar at 6:15 p.m., Schwartz said.
Three minutes later, 911 calls started flooding in with neighbors reporting the crash.
"There was a loud boom and my husband went running outside and said, 'There is a plane down!' "said Lucy Sanchez, 62, who heard the crash from the living room of her home just across the street from the crash site. "It's crazy. I have never seen anything like that happen in my life."
The crash immediately knocked out power in the neighborhood.
Sanchez's husband ran to the plane, which dangled from utility lines, and asked the pilot if he was OK. Betts said he was fine, Sanchez said.
Patrick Foy had just gotten into the car with his wife a block west on Clarke St. when the plane crashed.
At first, he couldn't believe his eyes.
"We didn't even hear a noise, we just saw a big flash," Foy said. "I saw the (plane's) flashing lights and thought it was a (utility) truck or something."
Pete LeRay was playing a flying video game on his PlayStation when he heard the boom and had his power briefly knocked out.
"I thought a car had crashed into the side of a house. I never thought I'd see a plane," LeRay said. "Unbelievable."
Betts and his plane hung from the wires for nearly two hours, as firefighters and We Energies workers worked to secure the plane and clear downed power lines.
Using two trucks with baskets, firefighters secured the tail with straps to help stabilize the plane, which swayed at times in a light wind.
Finally, at about 8 p.m., two firefighters who were lifted toward the plane on a firetruck ladder broke out the cockpit windshield and pulled Betts to safety.
Firefighters and Federal Aviation Administration officials on the scene were able to communicate with Betts throughout the rescue effort over his plane's two-way radio, said Steve Scherer, one of the firefighters who plucked Betts from the cockpit.
"He was aware of what we were doing the whole time," Scherer said.
Betts didn't appear to have any major injuries, Schwartz said.
He was taken to Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Wauwatosa, where he was being treated for minor injuries and undergoing tests, Schwartz said.
"He was thankful to be out," Scherer said.
The plane Betts was flying is a 1979 Piper Archer-II PA-28, registered to the Westosha Flying Club west of Kenosha. It's a fixed-wing, single-engine plane and is one of six planes registered to the club.
The crash itself initially took out power to about 3,600 customers. Shortly after the crash, We Energies had to cut power to the lines, which affected another 4,100 customers, for a total of 7,700 customers without power. After the pilot was removed, power was restored to all but 700 customers.
Power to those 700 customers could not be restored until the plane was untangled from the wires. Crew members from We Energies were at the scene late Saturday, said We Energies spokeswoman Beth Martin.
The plane was expected to be lifted from the wires by workers using a tow truck crane and then driven to Mitchell International Airport, where it will be examined as part of the FAA's investigation of the crash.
BE CAREFULL ALL PILOTS
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