A vintage military training plane wound up upside down beside a Pennsylvania airport runway Wednesday evening, leaving its lone pilot trapped inside as fuel and other fluids leaked from the aircraft.
Firefighters were dispatched to Heritage Field Airport in Limerick Township at 7:18 p.m. on Sept. 9. The first Limerick Fire Department unit arrived within three minutes and confirmed that the pilot was trapped in the overturned plane.
What followed was considerably better than the wreckage suggested. The pilot was rapidly freed with help from Limerick police and airport staff, then evaluated by paramedics and taken to a hospital with injuries the fire department described as non-life-threatening.
The airplane had a much longer history than Wednesday night’s flight. 6abc reported, citing Federal Aviation Administration records, that it was a Harvard III variant of the historic T-6 training aircraft and was manufactured in 1944.
Upside Down
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The Limerick Fire Department said Battalion 51 established command after arriving and confirmed the initial reports of entrapment.
The pilot was then extricated with assistance from Limerick police and airport personnel. Freedom Valley EMS reached the scene about a minute later, evaluated the pilot, and transported him to an area hospital.
That account provides a clearer picture than the initial reports from the scene, which said airport staff were pulling the pilot from the wreckage as firefighters arrived. Fire Chief Ken Shuler later told reporters the pilot was talking when he left.
There was another immediate problem to deal with once the pilot was out.
Limerick crews found fluid leaking from the damaged aircraft and put down absorbent material to contain it. Fire extinguishers were positioned around the plane, while an Engine 51 crew prepared foam in case the leaking aircraft caught fire.
Runway Duty
The response also turned the airport itself into part of the emergency scene.
Fire Police placed flares so airport personnel could visually warn approaching aircraft that the runway was temporarily closed. Special Service 51 provided lighting while crews remained around the overturned plane.
Around 9:20 p.m., Shuler gave reporters an update outside the airport. A crane arrived about 40 minutes later to turn the aircraft upright, with firefighters remaining nearby in case the recovery operation caused another problem.
The final Limerick fire personnel cleared the scene at 10:42 p.m., nearly three and a half hours after the initial dispatch.
Older Wings
The plane’s age gives the crash an unusual backdrop.
According to the FAA-record reporting by 6abc, the aircraft was built in 1944 and was a Harvard III variant of the T-6. Aircraft in that family were used to train Allied military pilots before they moved into combat aircraft during World War II.
6abc also reported that the privately owned plane currently carries a British Royal Navy-style paint scheme and is registered to a company in Bucks County.
The exact circumstances that put it upside down at Heritage Field remain unresolved. Although some early local reports offered conflicting accounts of where the flight began and where it was headed, no verified flight record establishing that route was available Thursday.
Officers and firefighters at the scene contacted the FAA’s Eastern Region Operations Center, according to the fire department. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
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