HAVERSTRAW
A 50-year-old New York
City man escaped from his single-engine airplane after it went down in
Bowline Pond in Haverstraw yesterday, state police said.
The
pilot, Ilan Reich, was flying over from the west toward the Hudson
River when he issued a mayday at 4:40 p.m. His Cirrus SR22 plane was
equipped with a parachute that is intended to support the entire
aircraft when deployed.
Reich deployed the chute as he coasted over the center of Haverstraw village, County Fire Coordinator Gordon Wren Jr. said.
Many
village residents were alerted to the incoming plane when they heard a
loud bang overhead, which was the sound of the parachute activation,
State Police Sgt. Kevin P. Flynn said.
As the plane hit Bowline
Pond, a cove off of the Hudson River near Warren Avenue, the man
escaped through a window and the plane quickly sank, Flynn said.
Daniel Urena, 12, lives on Broadway and said the plane flew right over his home.
"The
parachute came out. I thought something exploded. Then the wind came,
and it went into the water," he said. "I thought all the houses would
be crushed, and we would have to go somewhere else to live."
Urena and scores of others who lived nearby rushed to the waterfront as the plane went down.
Reyes Pichardo, 50, of Edgar Street, said in Spanish that he had just left work when he saw the plane coming.
"It
was like a big explosion, like thunder," he said. "The pilot was inside
the plane as the plane came down. When it fell into the water, he came
out of the window. He already had his lifejacket on."
A half-mile
to the north, Michael Weisberg of Montebello and his 5-year-old
daughter, Carli, saw the plane go down as they were rowing a dinghy at
Haverstraw Marina. He called 911, raced to his larger boat and headed
into the Hudson to search for the plane.
"I figured that I could get there way before anyone else," Weisberg said. He didn't find the plane because it was in the cove.
Two
lifeguards from Bowline Point Town Park swam out to help the pilot, and
firefighters pulled him aboard the Haverstraw Fire Department's rescue
boat about 300 feet from shore, Wren said.
The pilot was
conscious and alert and was taken by Haverstraw Ambulance Corps to
Nyack Hospital, County EMS Coordinator Kim Lippis said. Rockland
Paramedic Services also responded.
Reich suffered no serious injuries but may have lost consciousness shortly before the crash, Lippis said.
"He said he wasn't feeling well," she said.
State police said the cause of the crash was under investigation and appeared to be the result of mechanical problems.
Dive
teams from Stony Point Fire Department, New City Fire Department and
Piermont Fire Department worked for two hours in the cove's 30-foot
deep waters searching for the submerged plane.
It was discovered about 7 p.m. A buoy marks the spot. Officials weren't sure when the plane will be pulled from the water.
Rescue
boats from the Rockland County Sheriff's Department, the state police,
the state Park Police and the Westchester County Police stood by in the
cove.
The U.S. Coast Guard sent the Cutter Penobscot Bay and a smaller vessel to assist, Petty Officer Michael Lutz said.
Wren said the pilot was headed to Westchester County Airport.
The
plane was lost on the radar about 10 miles from Westchester County
Airport, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Arlene Salac said.
The plane, tail No. 3452L, was owned by 52 Lima Corp. of New York City, she said.
The plane will remain in the cove until the FAA completes its own investigation of the crash, Flynn said.
State
Assemblyman Ryan Karben, D-Monsey, said yesterday that the crash
highlighted the need to create a no-fly zone over the Indian Point
nuclear power plants. The crash site is about two miles southeast of
Indian Point and within the plant's 10-mile evacuation zone.
"Today's
plane crash occurred only a short distance from a major nuclear
reactor," Karben said. "Establishing a no-fly zone and disrupting a
flight pattern is a small price to pay if it means ensuring the safety
and security of millions of New Yorkers."
"A catastrophe at
Indian Point would be an emergency for the entire metropolitan region,"
Karben said. "We need to take proper preventative measures and minimize
the potential for any sort of accident to occur."
Indian Point is
owned by Entergy Nuclear Northeast. Jim Steets, a company spokesman,
said the plane did not pose a risk to the safety of the plant.
"There's
no question that a small plane could not penetrate or even cause minor
damage to our containment building," Steets said.
The area around
Indian Point already is a restricted fly zone, Steets said. Aircraft
cannot linger near the plant or fly lower than 2,000 feet above it,
Steets said.