Witnesses speak out after deadly, fiery plane crash in Akron

AKRON, Ohio (WJW) - Two people on board a small plane were killed Thursday afternoon when the aircraft crashed into a house in an Akron neighborhood and burst into flames. Investigators with the Ohio State Highway Patrol said the plane, a 1963 Piper Cherokee, had just taken off from Akron Fulton Airport. Witnesses said it was around 3:45 p.m. that they heard the small plane overhead having engine trouble. Akron police said seconds later, the plane went down, crashing into a house on Canterbury Circle. "I heard a lot of sputtering, like the engine cut on and cut off and within 10 seconds, something like that, 'boom,'" Akron resident Lewis Short said. The plane burst into a fireball, with the flames quickly spreading through the home. "We heard this humongous loud noise and all the neighbors were running out of the house, ran down that way. You could see the house was on fire, so we were trying to make sure everybody was able to get out and it was just this huge fire, like instant," Akron resident Jewell Ulrich said. Investigators said the two people on board the plane were pronounced dead at the scene. Members of the family inside the home were able to escape as the flames were spreading. They shared their story of survival with their neighbors. According to Short, "[the father] said that he was lucky that he was in the basement, then ran upstairs to get his kids because the impact blew up their wall out right there. He said he ran up there and grabbed them, saw stuff all around the house where it blew up, you know, messed the house up, but he got them out." Residents said they were horrified by the fiery crash in their neighborhood and are saddened by the loss of two lives. They are also grateful that the family inside the house survived. "God was definitely watching over them because he got out with both his kids and the dog, so yes, blessed beyond measure," Ulrich said.