Investigation ongoing in June 29 plane crash
Two patients were flown by medical helicopters to Pittsburgh trauma centers after their plane crashed about 6:15 p.m. on June 29 in a field off School Road in Somerset Township, Washington County. The plane departed from the Greene County Airport. (Photo courtesy of Ambulance & Chair EMS)
Emergency crews respond to a field off School Road in Somerset Township on June 29 after a small plane crashed, injuring its two occupants. (Photo courtesy of Ambulance & Chair EMS)
Two people were flown by medical helicopters to Pittsburgh trauma centers on the evening of June 29 after their plane that departed from Greene County crashed in a field in Somerset Township, Washington County.
State police, fire and EMS crews responded about 6:15 p.m. to the field on the property at 295 School Road, near the Kammerer exit off Interstate 70.
According to Rob Cannon, assistant director of Ambulance & Chair EMS, neighbors in the area called 911 when they saw the plane crash.
“A neighbor said they landed in the field there,” Cannon said. “When they tried to take off again, that’s when it crashed.”
As of the Messenger’s press time, state police had not released the names of the occupants, but said in a news release that the Cessna 150 plane crashed shortly after take-off.
The occupants had departed from the Greene County Airport, according to John Strope, with Strope Aircraft Mainenance. Strope said was working on an aircraft at the airport when the plane carrying a 29-year-old male student and 34-year-old female flight instructor departed.
Strope said the man involved in the crash is the son of the plane’s owner; he also said the father had been waiting at the airport for them to return when instead he received a phone call from his son informing him that they had crashed.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration’s website, the plane is registered to David Martin of West Mifflin.
The plane’s occupants were conscious but confused when first responders initially made contact with them, Cannon said, and they were transported with nonlife-threatening injuries.
“They were in critical but stable condition,” Cannon said on June 29.
One of the neighbors who responded to the plane is a nurse, Cannon said, who helped extricate one of the occupants.
Cannon said Ambulance & Chair had about 10 EMTs and paramedics assisting at the scene, along with firefighters from Ellsworth, Fallowfield and Bentleyville.
Cannon said that even though their EMS crews don’t often respond to plane crashes in Washington County, they did a great job caring for the patients.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board continue to investigate the incident, according to reports.