Pilot injured in plane crash on Miramar Street
A small plane crashed on Miramar Street Friday morning, injuring the pilot but hurting no one on the ground.
According to a witness to the crash, it appeared the pilot was attempting to land on Miramar.
The single-engine Cessna 172 then apparently clipped a power line, flipped and crashed wheels up on the roadway near the Dolphin Key Resort shortly before 10 a.m.
Joan Weaver was sitting on a bench under the portico of the Holiday Inn Express on Cape Coral Parkway when she saw the small plane heading east toward Del Prado Boulevard.
“I just saw this plane coming down lower, lower, and lower,” she said. “It took a few seconds to realize what was happening. It disappeared and then I heard the crash.
“It was a large boom sound and then you heard the transformers and wires.”
It appeared the pilot may have been trying to land on the street, she said.
“I think that’s what he was trying to do,” said Weaver, who is moving to the Cape from upstate New York. “The road would have been wide enough for him to land there.”
Upon hearing the crash, she ran into the lobby and asked the front desk to call 911.
Shirl Anderson, an inn employee, was among those who immediately ran to the scene to assist.
She said the pilot had visible injuries, but was conscious and aware.
“He had cuts on his face but was able to sit up,” Anderson said. “What I think saved him is that he hit the power line and then flipped.”
A witness at a nearby restaurant said multiple people ran from residences and businesses to assist.
“We heard the boom and went outside,” said the man, who asked that his name not be published. “We saw neighbors pull the pilot from the wreckage. He seemed hurt, bleeding, but he was functioning. The plane was upside down and gas was leaking but the guy seemed OK.”
One of those neighbors, Crystal Myers, said the pilot was able to aid the efforts to get him out.
“The guy was crawling out of the plane,” she said, adding she had run outside with her two children upon hearing the crash.
“It sounded like lightning bolt,” Myers said.
Cape Coral police and fire were on-scene through the noon-hour, officers and volunteers directing traffic and keeping the scene secure for the arrival of Federal Aviation Administration investigators, fire personnel beginning haz-mat cleanup around the plane.
Little official information on the crash was immediately available but CCFD spokesperson Andrea Schuch was able to confirm that there had been only one person on the plane and that the pilot was the only person injured as a result of the crash.
He was transported to the hospital, Schuch said, adding the transport was upgraded to a trauma alert en route.
CCFD personnel were conducting mitigation around the crash as fuel and other fluids had leaked from the plane, she said.
Meanwhile, LCEC personnel were on scene, working to restore power.
Approximately 1,800 customers were without service as an immediate result of crash damage. By 12:15 p.m., power had been restored to 600 customers with LCEC waiting for the FAA to grant access within the crash site so that the repairs necessary to restore power to the remaining 1,200 customers could be made, according to LCEC spokesperson Karen Ryan.
FAA investigators were expected on-scene around 1 p.m., she said.
Cape emergency personnel were also waiting for FAA clearance.
The plane could not be moved until the FAA completed its on-scene investigation of the crash, Schuch said.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are also expected.
Update: As of 2:30 p.m., all power has been restored.