3 killed when small plane crashes in backyard of Willow Grove home

The single-engine plane went down around 6:20 a.m. Thursday in Willow Grove, shortly after taking off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport.

Associated Press

August 8, 2019

Debris from a small plane crash sets in backyards of a residential neighborhood in Upper Moreland, Pa., Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019. Upper Moreland Police Chief Michael Murphy says the plane hit several trees before it finally came to rest. He said everyone aboard the plane was killed. (Matt Rourke/AP Photo)

Updated 12:50 p.m.

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A small plane has crashed in the backyard of a suburban Philadelphia home, killing one man and two women aboard.

The single-engine plane went down around 6:20 a.m. Thursday in Willow Grove, shortly after taking off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport en route to Columbus, Ohio.

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It’s not clear if that was the plane’s final destination.

Upper Moreland Police Chief Michael Murphy says the plane hit several trees before it came to rest. Everyone on board was killed. The names of the victims have not yet been released.

No one on the ground was injured and no homes were damaged. Murphy says debris is spread across several backyards.

He says there is no indication the pilot made a distress call before the crash.

The Federal Aviation Administration is onsite. The National Transportation Safety Board is heading to the scene, about 30 miles north of Philadelphia.

“We are going door to door looking for people who have their own video surveillance systems to recover anything that may have shown up on their stuff,” Murphy said during a press briefing. “We’re trying to do as much preliminary work in advance of the NTSB as we can. We do expect to be here for a couple of days.”

NTSB is expected to arrive at 2 p.m. to start an investigation.

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