Plane From Philly Crashes Into Living Room

After crash pilot asks "is everyone OK," according to resident

A family of six was startled awake this morning when a plane crashed into their living room.

Three people suffered injuries after the Virginia-bound small plane that took off from Northeast Philadelphia crashed into the living room of a an apartment early Friday morning.

Resident David Ventura was still in shock hours after he awoke to a Cessna 177B inside his Dulles Greene apartment.

"You are shocked, you don't know what's going on," Ventura said.

Two people were aboard the aircraft when it apparently ran out of fuel and stalled around 12:30 a.m., crashing into the Astoria Circle home.

Ventura said all he heard was an explosion. He told NBC Washington that when he opened the door, there were people and a plane in his living room. He recalled the pilot asking, "Is everyone OK here?"

Fortunately, everyone was still alive.

The pilot, William Larson of Vienna, Va. was the most severely injured. According to Virginia State Police the 61-year-old suffered serious, but non-life-threatening injuries that required hospitalization.

Larson's passenger, Tache Alejandro of Orlando Fla., was treated for minor injuries at the scene.

A 33-year-old female resident was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Amazingly none of the other three adults or two kids asleep in the third-story apartment were hurt.

"It could have been a whole lot worse," Captain Willie Bailey with Fairfax County Fire and Rescue said. "It's a blessing that no one got killed or any major injuries."

The plane was removed from the building around 7 a.m. There was no major structural damage to the building, but inspectors will be on scene to check the infrastructure.

Bailey added the plane's lack of fuel may have prevented a fire from starting.

"Good thing it didn't have any (fuel) when it crashed into the living room, because we'd probably have a totally different scenario right now," he explained.

The plane was heading to Manassas Regional Airport from Philadelphia's Northeast Airport. Realizing that he was low on fuel, Larson called Dulles Airport to ask to land there instead, according to Fairfax County officials.

According to the FAA, the aircraft is registered to Vienna, Va.-based Aerial Photographers. The company specializes in taking aerial photos and has worked up and down the East Coast. The company's website has photos posted of the space shuttle being transported as well as aerials of the Pentagon and other national structures.

It's unclear why they plane was in Philadelphia in the first place. State Police said Larson and Alejandro were in the air however to take infra-red images.

The Red Cross is assisting the nine adults, seven children and three dogs evacuated from the apartment building.

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