MARANA, Ariz. (KGUN) — A plane crashed in a Marana neighborhood Tuesday morning. No one was badly hurt, but what caused the crash is still under investigation.
Just imagine it. You have a typical busy morning. You’re prepping the kids. You’re getting ready to go to work, then a plane crashes in your neighborhood.
Federal investigators will spend a lot of time examining the plane and questioning the pilot to explain why the plane went down on Crooked Peak Trail, just south of Lambert Lane.
People caught video of the plane flying low and erratically over the neighborhood.
Orencio Diaz-Gonzales looked up from his work and wondered what was up with that plane.
“It just was flying really low and I saw everything. It clipped a house. It did like a cartwheel and we didn’t hear no more engine noise so we figured it crashed.”
The plane landed nose-down between two houses. It’s a Piper PA 36, designed for agriculture work like seeding and crop dusting. Federal aviation records show the plane was built almost 50 years ago but it had passed recent inspections. It’s owned by Quality Aviation of Marana.
For something as dangerous as a plane crash, things could have been a lot worse.
Marana Police Sergeant Vincent Rizzi says, “There's some property damage. The officers did contact the pilot of the airplane. No injuries have been reported. They also contacted the occupants of the two homes that were on each side of the airplane, and again, no injuries were reported.”
Most of the investigation shifts now from Marana Police to the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA. They often take many months to analyze the crash, rule on the cause, and decide if any lessons learned should lead to new safety rules.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
