Two men were killed Saturday night when a small, twin-engine plane crashed in a subdivision near Waubonsee Community College in the far west suburb of Sugar Grove.
Investigators pick through debris after a plane crashed near a house in Sugar Grove on Saturday. (For the Tribune / Mike Burley)
The two fatalities — both men – were in the plane, said Kane County Sheriff’s spokesman Pat Gengler.
Gengler said at about 7 p.m. residents saw a ball of fire and the sheriff’s office received a 911 call. Responders found the plane had struck the ground and debris had hit a home at Route 47 and Old Oaks Road.
There was very little damage to the home, where two adults and two children were inside, but the debris hit a corner of a garage, he said. No one in the home was injured, he said.
Cathy Doyle was in her home with three other family members when the debris struck her garage. In a telephone interview Saturday night she said she was thankful they all were safe.
Doyle said she was still shaken up from the accident several hours after the crash occurred, especially after she was told there were two fatalities.
“It’s nerve racking. My family is all safe, thank the Lord,” she said, catching her breath.
The impact downed power lines and there was a large swath of debris from the impact of the plane, which was nearly completely destroyed, said Gengler.
Pam Sullivan, an NTSB senior air safety investigator, said one of the people on the plane was a certified pilot but the other man on the plane did not have a pilot’s license.
Sullivan said officials expected to release the names of the victims Sunday. She said the plane was a twin-engine Piper Aerostar, but officials did not release the tail number of the plane.
She said the Aurora Airport is about 2 miles away.
Sullivan called the crash a “high-velocity impact” and that the plane “was broken into many pieces.”
She said officials planned to continue their investigation on Sunday.
The plane was en route from Aurora to the Denver area, according to an FAA recorded message.
Ken Voight, who lives about 1/2 mile from where the plane went down, said the plane went down near Route 47, across the street from the north entrance to Waubonsee Community College.
The residence hit by the plane is a large home at the corner of Route 47 and Old Oaks Road, with an address of 43W420 Old Oaks Road in Sugar Grove township.
Voight said he was sitting down to eat dinner when he heard an airplane flying ”very low” over his home. He said while planes routinely fly overhead from the airport, this plane appeared to have engine problems.
“This one came much lower than normal, really loud engine noise like [the pilot] was really trying to get the engines to go, and then maybe 10 seconds later we heard and felt the impact. … It shook our house.” said Voight. “It flew so low over our house that my wife and I both ducked our heads.”
Voight said that after the explosion he and a neighbor jumped into a car and drove to where the noise had come from. He said most of the debris was in a vacant lot across the street from the north entrance of the college.
“All we saw was a lot of small fires widely scattered, like campfires,” Voight said.
Voight said another neighbor told him that the plane appeared to circle overhead once, and as it was circling overhead again the plane went down. Voight said there was fog in the area.
Route 47 was closed during the investigation, but officials re-opened the road about 11:30 p.m. Saturday, Gengler said.
–Carlos Sadovi and Daarel Burnette II
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