The National Transportation Safety Board has released its preliminary report on an investigation after a plane crashed into a home on Ring Drive in Groton, near Groton-New London Airport, on Aug. 17.
Two people who were in the plane -- a flight instructor and a pilot who was undergoing instruction -- were able to get out safely after the crash and they were taken to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London with non-life threatening injuries, police said.
One man was in the home when the plane crashed into the roof and officials said he was not hurt.
That NTSB report says the Piper PA-34-200 had left Groton-New London Airport at 5 p.m. that day, flew to Bangor International Airport in Bangor, Maine, where the fuel tanks were filled, left Bangor at 8:02 p.m. and headed to Augusta State Airport in Augusta, Maine.
Then it went on to Portland International Jetport in Portland, Maine, where the pilot who was training performed one and three touch-and-go landings, then flew to back to Groton-New London Airport and performed two touch-and-go landings to runway 23, the NTSB report said.
The flight instructor reported hearing an engine sputter and feeling the plane jerk and determined that there was a malfunction with the right engine.
The NTSB report says he briefly pitched nose-down, "then nose-up, and when he noticed a high decent rate, he feathered the right propeller and placed the right mixture control to idle cutoff. He looked for a place to land and maneuvered for landing on a street. While flaring to land, he felt a collision."
Local
You can read the NTSB report here.
Tammy de la Cruz said the plane crashed into her father's home. She said her dad was in the bedroom, which was the only part of the house that was left unscathed.
“I saw the house and I thought….there is no way he is alive. He is dead,” said de la Cruz.
She said that her dad heard the loud bang and thought someone was trying to break into the house. He locked the door and climbed out his bedroom window. Other than a sore throat from inhaling the airplane fumes, he had no injuries.
“A miracle,” said de la Cruz. “People lived. That my dad is alive. That the guys in the plane lived, that it did not explode.”
