Posted on 05/14/2004 9:15:19 PM PDT by nuconvert
Small Plane Crashes in Neighborhood Near Baltimore-Washington Airport, Killing Pilot
By Foster Klug
Associated Press Writer
May 14, 2004 LINTHICUM, Md. (AP) - A small plane crashed in a residential neighborhood Friday, shearing off treetops and slamming into a boat and a pickup truck before its fuselage stopped at the front door of a house. The pilot was killed, but no one else was hurt. It was "nothing short of a miracle" that no one on the ground was injured in the crash east of Baltimore-Washington International Airport, said Maj. Greg Shipley of the Maryland State Police.
Mike Doyle, 53, said the plane roared low over the Anne Arundel County neighborhood before it crashed about a block from his house, which is not in the usual flight path.
"He was probably 100 feet over the ground - so low it rattled the house," said Doyle, who was getting his three children off to school when the plane went down.
The plane took off from Philadelphia and was headed to BWI when it crashed about 7:25 a.m., said airport spokeswoman Cheryl Stewart. She said it was an MU2 "high-wing" turboprop plane.
The plane crashed in front of a home less than a half-mile from the nearest runway.
Hours after the crash, firefighters continued to spray foam on the wreckage to prevent a fire, firefighter John Scholz said. The plane lay in pieces, with the wings sheared off and the fuselage broken into pieces strewn over the home's driveway and yard.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating.
The plane was one of 11 owned by Atlanta-based Epps Aviation that fly checks and other paperwork for banks in the Northeast, said owner and president Pat Epps. He said the pilot, Thomas F. Lennon of Drexel Hill, Pa., was in his 30s and was "very experienced."
"This is the first pilot we've lost in these 20-plus years we've been running this part of the business," Epps said.
Thomas Crane, 65, called Lennon "a perfect neighbor."
"He was going to do whatever it took to fly," Crane said. "We used to talk about how fortunate it was that he had the type of job he loved."
Sad outcome...prayers for the family of the pilot.
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