A 62-year-old New Jersey woman suffered only minor injuries when her single-engine plane crashed into the woods 100 feet from a house in Clinton on Saturday afternoon.
Police said Shirley Onacilla, of Jersey City, New Jersey, was treated for minor bruises and abrasions at Middlesex Memorial Hospital Shoreline in Westbrook and has been released.
Clinton First Selectman William Fritz said the plane, which was attempting to land at Chester Airport, went down around 3 p.m. in the area of Princess Pine Road and Ironworks Road.
Onacilla was heading for Orange County, New York, but reported engine trouble after taking off from Groton-New London Airport, officials said.
A homeowner who was in the backyard, splitting wood, when the plane barreled into the trees brought a ladder up to the crash site and talked to the pilot, who was conscious and alert, but couldn't get her out.
"I kept asking her, 'Is anything broken?' Rob was trying to get here out. Problem was, plane was upside down. Part of the glass was open and we couldn’t slide her out,” Cathy Wherle said.
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Firefighters pulled Onacilla from the plane.
The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration will be investigating.
