2 walk away from fiery small-plane crash in NJ

[August 21, 2009]  TETERBORO, N.J. (AP) -- A small plane crashed while trying to land at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport on Friday morning, and the two people aboard survived and managed to walk away from the fiery wreckage.

The pilot and a passenger both suffered burns, officials said.

One man was taken to St. Barnabas Medical Center with burns and the other was taken to Hackensack Medical Center.

Little Ferry police officer Adam Warne, who was among the first to respond to the scene, said he was taken aback to find the men alive and talking after the crash.

"They were sitting at the curb at the bus stop. Both of them were alert and conscious and answering questions," Warne said.

Warne said one man was "severely burned."

"The one who had more burns sat there and was in a daze," he said. "I saw the wreckage, they both said 'We were in the plane.' I was a little taken back, you know."

The plane was carrying blood specimens for Quest Diagnostics, which is just down the street from the airport, when it crashed just after 3 a.m. while trying to land, police said.

The twin-engine Beechcraft was believed to have originated in Reading, Pa

The blackened remains of the plane were barely discernible from the side of Route 46.

Federal Aviation Administration officials were investigating.

Teterboro is the same airport where a plane took off earlier this month before colliding with a sightseeing helicopter over the Hudson River. Nine people were killed aboard the two aircraft.

In 2005, a corporate jet went off the runway at Teterboro, crashed through a fence and crossed a highway before smashing into a warehouse. Twenty people were injured.

[Associated Press; By VICTOR EPSTEIN]

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