AKRON, OHIO — A Piper PA-28 training aircraft crashed into a house in Akron, Ohio, shortly before 4 p.m. Thursday, killing the two people on board and igniting a fire that forced the evacuation of two homes. The two occupants were a certified flight instructor and the aircraft's pilot-owner.
The white and blue Piper PA-28-180, commonly known as the Cherokee, took off from Akron Fulton Airport at around 2 p.m. Thursday for a training flight and flew roughly 40 miles south. The instructor and pilot completed standard training maneuvers and made two landing attempts at the airport before the second approach ended in the crash.
Aaron McCarter, a National Transportation Safety Board aviation accident investigator, described what witnesses and doorbell cameras captured in the final moments. "During that time, something upset the aircraft. The aircraft was seen by credible witnesses and doorbell cameras spiraling out of the sky from about 1,000 feet, where it impacted the road behind me and subsequently struck the house," McCarter said.
Three people, a father and two children, were inside the house at the time of impact and escaped unharmed. The family's home was rendered uninhabitable, and a second house was also evacuated due to the resulting fire.
"It is incredible," McCarter said. "And they are blessed to have made it out of that house, considering the catastrophic nature of the accident."
Akron police received calls about the crash at around 4 p.m. Thursday. There were no immediate reports of injuries inside the house.
Investigators from the NTSB, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Ohio State Highway Patrol began their work on Friday. Investigators will rely on witness testimony and doorbell camera footage to determine what happened, and Piper Aircraft is assisting with the investigation. Investigators are also considering Thursday's high winds, which gusted up to 25 knots, as a possible contributing factor.
On Friday, the aircraft wreckage was removed from the house and transported to Akron Fulton Airport for evaluation. The Summit County Medical Examiner's office said Friday that authorities had not yet identified the bodies of the two people killed or notified their families.
The nearby American Winds College of Aeronautics posted on Facebook late Wednesday that all of its airplanes were safe. Denise Hobart of the North East Ohio Pilots Association said on behalf of the college that they were praying for the pilot, everyone on board, and their families.