Teterboro jet crash sends 20 to hospitals
Takeoff was aborted plane clipped autos on Route 46, pierced wall at a warehouse
Thursday, February 03, 2005
By Wayne Parry
Associated Press writer
TETERBORO - Passengers and crew members of a corporate jet that shot off the end of a runway and across a highway, smashing into cars and punching through the wall of a warehouse yesterday morning, walked and crawled away from the fiery crash.

While the most serious injury among the 11 people on the plane was a broken leg, officials said one of the two people in the two cars that were stuck was in critical condition. A man working in the warehouse also was injured.

In all, officials said about 20 people, including five firefighters with minor injuries, were taken to hospitals after the crash at Teterboro Airport, the busy, small airport a few miles north of Giants Stadium that caters to corporate jets.

"I think everybody at this point is extremely lucky and fortunate," said acting Gov. Richard J. Codey.

State and federal officials did not say what may have caused the crash of the Bombardier Challenger CL-600, which the Federal Aviation Administration said was bound for Midway Airport in Chicago.

FAA spokesman Jim Peters described the passengers as "a group of investment bankers from several different companies." He had no other details.

Deborah Hersman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the cockpit voice recorder was recovered and is being analyzed at a lab in Washington.

"We're very thankful that at this point we have no fatalities to report," Hersman said.

She said the plane crashed after aborting its takeoff, but did not say why the takeoff was nixed. Hersman also said it was not clear whether the plane was de-iced.

Witnesses described the plane "sliding and skidding" down the runway before it slammed through a fence and across the six lanes of Route 46.

"Usually we see them lift off, but this one just went straight and started scratching the ground. There were sparks shooting out all over the place," said Joseph Massaro, a psychologist who lives nearby.

Emergency crews arrived to find passengers walking outside the burning plane, and the pilot crawling out of the wreckage. Witness Robert Sosa said the pilot told him the crew lost control of the plane.

"The pilot said he dragged himself out," Sosa told WNBC-TV. "He literally crawled out like a baby, and all the other people just walked out normal."

The registered owner of the plane is 448 Alliance LLC of Dallas, and is listed among the inventory of aircraft operated by Darby Aviation, of Sheffield, Ala., Peters said. The jet is also operated by Platinum Jet of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., he said. "That's perfectly legal," Peters said.

A message seeking comment at Darby Aviation was not immediately returned, while a person at Platinum Jet said no one was available to speak.

At the warehouse, owned by clothing company Strawberry, employee Luis Ruiz said only a few workers, including the injured man, were inside when the plane hit.

The warehouse manager said the smoke from the burning plane made it impossible to see inside the building. "There was so much smoke it looked like fog," said Tommy Ficarra of West Paterson.

Rescue crews used a special hose nozzle to punch through the skin of the aircraft and spray fire-suppressing foam inside.

Hackensack University Medical Center said 18 people, including the pilot and copilot, eight passengers and five firefighters, were taken there. Only three were admitted there: the copilot with a broken leg, a person who had been in a car who was in critical condition, and one of the plane's passengers. Two bystanders were released; it was not immediately clear whether one was the worker from the warehouse.

Most of those taken to the hospital needed to be showered to remove jet fuel, Dr. Joseph Feldman said.

Two people, a flight attendant and a man who had been in a car, were taken to Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, said spokeswoman Katherine Kakogiannis. The flight attendant was released, said Kakogiannis. The driver of a car had broken bones in his face and was admitted, the hospital said.

Greg Martin, a spokesman for the FAA in Washington, said communication between the air traffic control and the aircraft was routine. The weather was clear and wind was calm, with temperatures in the low 20s.

Bill Waldock, aviation safety professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona, said it's unlikely that icing would be a factor if the temperature was 22 degrees.

A similar plane, a Canadair CL-601 Challenger, crashed in December in Colorado while trying to take off, killing a son of NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol and two others. After that crash, the NTSB warned pilots of smaller planes to run their hands along their aircraft's wings before takeoff to make sure ice hadn't formed.



http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1107425550264311.xml