The recent Lancaster plane crash has left a pilot and his teen passenger dead after two planes collided on the border of Lancaster and Alden Saturday morning. According to multiple reports, the Lancaster plane crash rocked the community around 10:40 a.m.
WIVB reported that the collision happened six miles east-southeast of Buffalo-Lancaster Regional Airport. Both planes were reportedly flying near the airport when the double Lancaster plane crash occurred.
A report of two planes crashing down on Kieffer Road around 10:15 a.m. was what emergency vehicles responded to on Saturday. While one plane crashed near Kieffer Road, the second one had a "hard landing" near Town Line Road, reports East Niagra Post News Now.
Lancaster Police Chief Gerald Gill said, "We had a mid-air collision between two single engine aircraft and we have two fatalities."
The Federal Aviation Administration told News 4 that the mid-air Lancaster plane crash involved a Cessna 172 aircraft and a Searey amateur-built aircraft.
According to Time Warner Cable News, police said the Cessna 172 that collided off Town Line Road carried a 78-year-old male pilot and a 14-year-old male passenger who were both from Lancaster. Both died in the collision.
Meanwhile, the second plane was able to make an emergency landing at a field in Alden following the Lancaster plane crash. The Searey's passengers, an adult male pilot and a nine-year-old girl, were able to walk away from the crash site with non-life threatening injuries. East Niagra Post News Now reports that their plane made a crash landing in Alden at Kieffer and Town Line Rd.
Gregory Savage from the Erie County sheriff's office explained how the Lancaster plane crash took place.
He said, "The second plane, the pilot managed to put the plane on the ground with some difficulty. That site is now secure here off of Kiefer road. Pilot and one from what we understand, 9-year-old female passenger, neither one of them sustained life threatening injuries."
According to WIVB, both aircraft involved in the Lancaster plane crash were privately owned and were participating at the Young Eagles rally at the Buffalo Lancaster airport. They were flying as part of a national program at the airport called Experimental Airplane Association (EAA) Young Eagles Program.
Gill said of the program, "It was designed to expose them to aviation, expose youth to aviation."
According to Time Warner Cable News, investigators are now probing witnesses in order to determine exactly what went down during the Lancaster plane crash.
Savage said, "They obviously collided, how that happened is the focus of the investigation, so how they came to be so close yet, were not sure yet."
Dino Fudoli, Lancaster town supervisor said in a statement that his thoughts and prayers are with the Lancaster plane crash victims' families. He added that "there are a lot of questions at this time and we hope to have answers soon on where we go from here."
The NTSB is now handling the investigation. Meanwhile, both names of the victims of the Lancaster plane crash have not been released.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
