The aircraft was attempting an emergency landing at an airport, a state official said
Five people were killed Wednesday when a World War II-era bomber plane crashed while attempting an emergency landing at a Connecticut airport, a state official said.
Ten passengers and three crew members were on the plane, which crashed into a deicing facility minutes after it took off from Bradley International Airport, about 15 miles north of Hartford, said James Rovella, Connecticut state police commissioner. At least one person on the ground, who was at the deicing facility, also was hurt, he said.
Officials were working to identify victims, some of whom were badly burned in the crash, which sent plumes of black smoke rising from the airfield, Mr. Rovella said. The injured were taken to three area hospitals.
“Victims are very difficult to identify,” Mr. Rovella said at a Wednesday afternoon briefing, where he urged family members to contact state police. “We don’t want to make a mistake.”
Kevin Dillon, the airport’s executive director, said the vintage Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress plane struggled to gain altitude after taking off at 9:45 a.m.
The aircraft was operated by the Collings Foundation, an educational nonprofit based in Stow, Mass., which takes vintage planes to airfields around the country to teach people about military history.
The plane circled the airport and attempted to land on a runway at about 9:54 a.m., Mr. Dillon said. But the aircraft lost control and plowed into a maintenance facility containing tanks of deicing fluid, he said.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday that it would investigate the crash. The foundation said in a statement Wednesday that it is cooperating with a crash investigation.
During a briefing, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont talked about seeing smoke plumes as his car approached the airport. “Right now, my heart really goes out to the families who are waiting,” he said.
(Source: Paul Berger, The Wall Street Journal- 2/10/2019)
