Photo: Londonderry Fire Department.
A pilot is lucky to be alive after his plane crashed into a wooded area of a Londonderry, New Hampshire neighborhood on Friday (January 26) morning.
The Beechcraft 99 cargo plane took off from the Manchester-Boston regional airport but made it less than five miles before crashing into the backyard of Brian Croteau.
"He was probably 70 feet from a residence, a single-family residence right on where the lawn of this residence met the tree line of the woods," Londonderry Fire Cheif Bo Butler said.
Croteau heard the crash and called 911 while rushing outside to investigate.
"I had gotten up into the plane at one point to check to see if he was OK, see if we could get him out," Croteau told WCVB. "He was mumbling. He was pretty pinned up against his controls."
First responders had to dismantle the plane to free the pilot, who was rushed to the hospital in serious condition.
Officials said the pilot was lucky that his plane, which had 250 gallons of fuel, did not catch fire in the crash.
Investigators have not determined what caused the plane to crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team to the scene to lead the investigation into the crash.