SPRUCE CREEK FLY-IN — One man was killed, another critically injured when a small private airplane crashed Tuesday night in the Spruce Creek Fly-In gated aviation community near Port Orange, authorities said.
Callers to 9-1-1 said the airplane crashed into an empty lot at 2540 Taxiway Echo near runway 6 around 7:35 p.m., officials said.
It happened on the community's north side, according to Laura Williams, Volusia County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman. The plane narrowly missed hitting a home.
Officials at the scene said the aircraft was a Cessna 140 that possibly took off from the Spruce Creek airport.
According to information on Flightaware, the aircraft is owned by James B. Savage of Gibsonia, Pennsylvania. The Cessna is described as a single-engine fixed wing two-seater aircraft with an 85-horsepower engine built in 1946.
No one on the ground was injured. Rescue workers arriving at the scene said one person was stuck in the plane and another person had been pulled out by bystanders.
That person pulled out of the aircraft died at the scene, authorities said.
Another person, a man whose legs were trapped in the aircraft and had an open head injury, was freed and declared a trauma alert, rescue workers said.
The man was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, said Volusia County Fire Services Division Chief Tim Martin.
Williams said the man is in critical condition. She added that officials are trying to identify the victims and notify their families.
Martin said both the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were notified of the plane crash, arrived on the scene and will be conducting the investigation.
Volusia County Fire Service was assisted by the Port Orange Fire Department, Martin said.
SEE: The location of previous aviation incidents in Volusia and Flagler counties:
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