Police chief describes scene after plane crash at New Jersey's Cross Keys Airport: "It's pretty unbelievable"
Monroe Township Police Chief John McBride says he was one of the first to arrive on the scene after a skydiving aircraft carrying 15 people crashed shortly after takeoff Wednesday evening at the Cross Keys Airport in Williamstown, New Jersey.
McBride said officers tried to keep everyone calm and victims were trying to help each other.
"Screaming in pain, yelling for help, they're covered in jet fuel or airline fuel and just trying to navigate between fallen trees," McBride said.
Officials said 14 of the people on board were taken to either Cooper Hospital or Inspira Medical Center in Mullica Hill. Three people are in critical condition, and one person declined medical treatment.
McBride said the pilot was trapped and emergency responders had to cut him out.
"It's just amazing that where you see a plane full of 15 people fall out of the sky and you have 15 survivors," McBride said. "It's pretty unbelievable."
McBride said the plane looked like a pile of metal stuck in the trees. He said crews had to cut trees and battle tough terrain to get to the wreckage and help people.
"There was debris spread out throughout that entire area where the victims were lying all over as well," McBride said. "The plane was completely mangled."
Officials said as chaotic as the scene was, it was controlled chaos as their training kicked in. Emergency responders recently completed a mass casualty training exercise at the same airport.
The plane was operated by Skydive Cross Keys. In a statement, the company said its team "remains focused on supporting those involved and assisting investigators."
The pilot is "highly experienced," the statement says, adding that the plane was up to date on all routine maintenance and had recently undergone an FAA inspection.
A spokesperson for the company said, "We feel so relieved there was no loss of life; the outcome could have been much worse. We're incredibly thankful for the skill and composure of our pilot, whose actions helped keep everyone alive. We're also deeply grateful to the emergency responders who arrived so quickly and took such great care of everyone on board. The outpouring of support from the skydiving community and from so many people who have jumped with us over the years has truly meant the world to our team."
The company says the pilot decided to do an emergency landing and was unable to decelerate fully, which is why the plane ran off the runway and into the woods.
The crash is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Monroe Township Police Department and the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office.
