Child dies, 4 hurt in plane crash

[happy_liberal]

Down on Ingra, Pete Sesto, 29, had been on a test drive when seemingly out of nowhere, the navy blue airplane sputtered down from the sky into his field of view, clipped a power line and smacked into the building. He pulled off the road and ran over to the crash on the heels of two others who had been passing by, he said.

Those in front started pulling the plane doors open and getting the victims out, then passing them back to Sesto and others, who helped drag them out to the street, he said.

"As soon as it hit, I heard people screaming," Sesto said. "We were getting people out as quick as we could. People (on the plane) had torched pant legs and stuff. A lot of burns to the face, banged up. ... I don't know what just happened. That was pretty darn intense."

Another rescuer, Hunter Brosh, 29, had been driving north on Ingra to a guitar lesson when he saw a "surreal" crash. He said everyone on Ingra stopped, got out of their cars and went to help. He estimated that 25 good Samaritans got involved.

Brosh and others held up a wing to pull people out, he said. A young girl got out on her own, he said, but the pilot and a passenger were trapped. People ripped at the doors and seat belts, Brosh said.

Someone was saying there was a passenger left in the back of plane, possibly a baby or young child. A woman passenger in front of the plane was trapped and someone sprayed her with a fire extinguisher to protect her, he said. One man in a military uniform appeared to have some medical training and was offering more help than others.

At that point, Brosh said, there was only smoke. But a fire started a short time later.

"Oh my God, I couldn't believe it," Karen Gutierrez, 48, who lives in an apartment on Eighth Avenue, said as she saw the fire build. "I never felt so helpless."

Parker said the good Samaritans who pulled the four to safety may have saved their lives.

"They immediately descended on this thing," Parker said. "They were pulling people out, the four survivors out, before the airplane burst into flames. They got the people out. They saved their lives."

http://www.adn.com/2010/06/01/1303320/five-hurt-as-plane-hits-car-dealership.html?pageNum=3&&mi_pluck_action=page_nav#Comments_Container

They didn't think twice, so they saved four lives. Citizens who responded to the stunning sight of a Cessna going down at Seventh and Ingra in downtown Anchorage on Tuesday made all the difference for four occupants of the plane. The crash blew them out of the ordinary course of their days -- biking home, test-driving a vehicle, en route to a guitar lesson -- and they ran to the rescue, right into trouble.



Look at the photograph above and more online, and you'll see the kind of response we'd all like to have if we were trapped like that. And you'll see the kind of response we'd like to give if and when it's our turn.

Men held up the wing so others could reach the pilot and passengers. People tore at seat belts to get the crash victims out. And they stood in the fire even after the plane and a nearby house burned.

One witness estimated 25 good Samaritans rushed to the scene along with the first police officer. They couldn't save a 4-year-old trapped in the plane, but they tried.

Our prayers and condolences go to the family and a friend who was with them. May the survivors recover fully and soon.

They have the chance to recover thanks to a first response right off the street.


BOTTOM LINE: Selfless rescue saves four
http://www.adn.com/2010/06/02/1305065/our-view-rescue.html

more pics
http://www.adn.com/2010/06/01/v-gallery/1303320/five-hurt-as-plane-hits-car-dealership.html