Two adults and a child inside the single-story home escaped serious injury, authorities said. The child, a young girl, was in the very room the plane crashed into at the time. A neighbor ran into the house just after the crash and pulled the girl to safety.
Two mechanics were taking the single-engine aircraft on a test flight when it lost power three minutes after takeoff from Smith Reynolds Airport.
It crashed a half-mile away, officials said, hitting a corner of a house in the 4200 block of Tise Avenue just before 11 a.m., according to J.I. Dalton, a Winston-Salem police dispatcher.
Police evacuated nearby residences, and Duke Power Co. reported a small number of people were left without power after the crash. Police Lt. Deneille Atwood said firefighters were sent to the scene because of the threat of a fuel spill, but there was no fire.
Atwood said the plane hit the northwest corner of the two-to three-bedroom house.
``The damage to the house looks minimal to me,'' she said, adding that the plane was ``leaning against the corner. It looks like the damage appears to be right on the front of it (the plane). The back tail end of it appears intact.''
Atwood said it wasn't immediately known whether the plane was attempting to land at Smith Reynolds Airport, located two miles northeast of the city center. Investigators were checking the numbers on the plane's fuselage to determine the flight's origin and destination.
``We haven't recovered any personal effects yet,'' Atwood said, adding that the Federal Aviation Administration had taken control of the crash site.
Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
