Small Plane Crash Near Teterboro

TETERBORO, N.J. - Two men managed to crawl away from a fiery crash of the airplane there were in as it approached Teterboro Airport Friday morning.

The twin-engine plane crashed in a parking lot along Route 46 at around 3:15 a.m.

Emergency responders say the men were found sitting at a bus stop.

Pilot George Maddox of Reading, Pennsylvania was airlifted to St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston with serious burns. Co-pilot Sanil Gopimath was taken by ground to Hackensack Medical Center and later transferred to St. Barnabas. The men are employees of Quest Diagnostics.

Officials with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey say the plane went past the airport, clipped a tree and landed in a grassy area just north of Route 46.

Witnesses say one of the men had a badly burned hand; the other had burns to his head.

"Both individuals appeared to be in shock," Little Ferry Police Chief Ralph Verdi told Good Dy NY Co-host Greg Kelly on Friday.

The men were too incoherent to provide useful information.

Only one lane is open on Route 46 West. Teterboro Airport is open.

The Beechcraft twine-engine aircraft was transferring blood specimens from Hartford, Connecticut to Teterboro Airport for Quest Diagnostics on Industrial Road. 

It's not clear if any stress calls were made to the airport on approach.

NY Weather Authority Mike Woods says visibility was likely not a problem for the pilot and co-pilot. Skies were relatively clear at the time of the crash.

Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board officials are on the scene. The NTSB is heading the investigation.

An official- speaking at a news conference at the scene of the crash on Friday morning -said the men were conscious by the time firefighters got to the scene. The pilot and co-pilot were able to talk to the emergency official. They asked for water.

"God was on their shoulders," one official said.

Little Ferry police officer Adam Warne, who was among the first to respond to the scene, said he was taken aback to find the men alive and talking after the crash.

"They were sitting at the curb at the bus stop. Both of them were alert and conscious and answering questions," Warne said. Warne said one man was "severely burned."  "The one who had more burns sat there and was in a daze," he  said. "I saw the wreckage, they both said 'We were in the plane.'  I was a little taken back, you know."

Teterboro is the same airport where a plane took off earlier this month before colliding with a sightseeing helicopter over the Hudson River. Nine people were killed aboard the two aircraft.

In 2005, a corporate jet went off the runway at Teterboro, crashed through a fence and crossed a highway before smashing into a warehouse. Twenty people were injured.
 

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