Small cargo plane crashes on approach to BWI
 

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2004May14.html


"A small cargo plane crashed on its approach to Baltimore-Washington International Airport this morning, narrowly missing several homes, authorities said. The pilot was killed in the crash.

The two-engine turboprop, a Mitsubishi MU2, was carrying bank checks and financial documents from Philadelphia. Witnesses near BWI, in Anne Arundel County, said they saw the plane move erratically in the sky, and then drop like a stone. The plane landed in pieces between two houses in the residential neighborhood of Ferndale, just south of the airport.

"We're just fortunate that the plane went between the houses," said Battalion Chief John Scholz of the Anne Arundel fire department.

Lisa Ratsch, who lives less than a block from the crash site, said she was on her deck putting chlorine in her pool when she saw the plane, and could tell it was too low.

"It just sounded really close, like it shouldn't be that close," she said.

Ratsch said she watched the plane wobble from side to side, become inverted, and then pitch into a nose dive.

The pilot has been confirmed dead, but has not yet been identified, said Tracy Newman, a BWI airport spokesman. The plane was registered to Epps Aviation in Atlanta.

Pat Epps, the president of Epps Aviation, said the man killed in the crash was an experienced pilot in his thirties who was flying alone in the aircraft. The pilot had flown the route for the company for the past five years, Epps said. "

My condolences to all involved
 

Epps is a well run outfit.

I have had the chance to meet with him and know this is a most difficult time for all involved.

God Bless

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/n...8671433.htm?1c

Posted on Sat, May. 15, 2004

Plane crash kills Drexel Hill man

Thomas F. Lennon was alone in a plane that went down in Maryland. No one on the ground was hurt.

By Stephanie L. Arnold

Inquirer Staff Writer

A Drexel Hill man was killed yesterday after the plane he was flying crashed in a residential neighborhood just east of Baltimore-Washington International Airport in Anne Arundel County, Md.

Thomas F. Lennon, 34, a pilot for Atlanta-based Epps Aviation, was headed from Philadelphia International Airport to BWI. The plane crashed about 7:25 a.m. in front of a house, less than a half-mile from the nearest runway.

Family members said aviation officials had told them that Lennon was experiencing plane trouble.

"It's just hard to grasp. It just doesn't seem possible," said Noah Goldman, Lennon's uncle.

Lennon was the plane's only occupant, and no one was injured on the ground, said Maj. Greg Shipley of the Maryland State Police.

Noting that the fuselage had landed at the front door of a house, Shipley called it "nothing short of a miracle" that no one else was hurt.

Goldman said Lennon had been a pilot for several years, and had been working at Epps Aviation for a little more than two years. He had been laid off by US Airways after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Goldman said.

Pat Epps, owner and president of the company that flies canceled checks and other paperwork for banks in the Northeast, described Lennon as "very experienced." Epps said that Lennon was the first company pilot killed in a plane crash.

The plane was an Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 high-wing turboprop, according to an airport spokeswoman. The plane was one of 11 owned by Epps Aviation.

Hours after the crash, firefighters continued to spray foam on the wreckage.

Representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were en route to the scene.

Lennon and his wife, Lara, had no children.

Contact staff writer Stephanie L. Arnold at 610-313-8093 or [email protected]. This article contains information from the Associated Press.