By Jessica Fargen, Laurel J. Sweet and Marie Szaniszlo
Boston Herald
 AP Photo/Robert Klein An FD chaplain says a prayer by the wreckage of an Angel Flight plane that crashed in Easton, Mass., Tuesday. Reports indicated that three people were killed. |
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — Three people, including a Long Island husband and wife, died this morning when a single-engine plane on a mercy mission nosedived into the parking lot of an Easton strip mall and exploded in flames, according to witnesses and the Federal Aviation Administration.
The Herald has confirmed the 1956 Beechcraft Bonanza G35 was on a flight from Westhampton Beach, N.Y., to Logan International Airport for Angel Flight New England, a 12-year-old volunteer “air charity network” out of Lawrence Municipal Airport in North Andover that provides free transportation to hospitals for financially challenged patients.
Killed on impact shortly after 10:15 a.m. were a yet-unidentified male pilot and a husband and wife, said Jim Peters, a spokesman for the FAA.
A source said Angel Flight was taking the husband to a Boston hospital for cancer treatment.
Peters said the plane is owned by Janet Keene, 69, of Brookfield, Conn., however, she was not on board.
Preliminary investigation suggests there was “nothing wrong” with the plane, said Peters, who stressed, “That could change.” He said the plane disappeared from radar about 20 miles southwest of Logan.
Easton Deputy Police Chief Allen Krajcik said witnesses saw the plane flying low about 300 to 400 feet above the ground when it came out of the clouds in a nosedive and spiraled in a death plunge.
Witnesses said the Beechcraft incinerated upon crashing next to Hannaford Supermarket at Highlands Plaza on Robert Drive.
“It was very fortunate no one in the parking lot was hurt. It was miraculous,” Krajcik said.
Hannaford manager Arthur DeChellis said, “We just heard an explosion. I thought it was actually a truck.”
DeChellis told a colleague to call 911 while he ran outside to assist.
“I saw just fire when I came out,” he said.
Jennifer Esmond, 27, of Foxboro, who had just pulled into the supermarket parking lot to go shopping, said the plane was flying so low it cast a dark shadow over her. Seconds later, it slammed into the ground.
“When I looked up I could see the underbelly clearly. I could see the tail clearly. There was no landing gear down. There was no attempt for it to slow down. It crashed with the nose in a nosedive and it erupted into a ball of flames. There was black smoke everywhere,” she told the Herald from the scene.
Esmond said she believes two of the people on board were ejected. She saw two bodies lying on an embankment near the plane immediately after it crashed.
The mall crash scene also includes Target and TJ Maxx department stores.
A woman named Erica, who works in customer service at the store, said no employees or shoppers were injured.
“There was an explosion,” said the woman, who did not want to give her last name. “It was at the end of our parking lot. Thank goodness it wasn’t close to the building.”
Angel Flight officials referred calls to a spokeswoman, who could not immediately be reached for comment. Angel pilots not only donate their time to the ill, they pick up all expenses for the flight.
Photographer Mark Garfinkel contributed to this report.