WEST CALN TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A small plane crashed in a Chester County neighborhood, killing its pilot. No one on the ground was hurt.
A West Caln Township 911 dispatch supervisor said the plane crashed around 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
The twin-engine plane went down in a field just 40 yards from a farmhouse located on Old Wilmington Road, near Ash Road in Coatesville. It had taken off from Chester County Airport but its destination is still unknown.
The pilot was killed in the crash. He was the only one on board. He was identified by the Octorara Area School District as Sam Ganow, its school board president. He was on the board for 26 years.
“I don’t think for any of us it has truly settled in,” Octarara Superintendent Dr. Steven Leever told NBC10. “In the coming days as we get to talk with his wife, I think it will become a little more of a reality.”
Ganow had a lot of flying experience, Leever noted, which added to the overall shock of this event.
In a message to the district community, school officials pointed to Ganow’s dedication to his family and his church, along with his equipment rental business, skiing and marathon running. Memorial services are pending. The school district will have grief counselors available.
Resident John Keating lives across the street from the farmhouse where the accident occurred. He recalls the moment he witnessed the crash.
"I was coming down the road and saw first responders pulling in and then I went down the road and had heard a plane crash," he said.
West Callen Township Chief of Police Kurt Martinez said the plane landed extremely close to the farmhouse where one person was sleeping.
"We got lucky that the plane was really close to the house," he said. "The witnesses said the plane just missed the house."
The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation into this deadly crash and try to figure out what went wrong.