Pilot, passenger of small plane OK after crash near Schaumburg Regional Airport

ROSELLE, Ill. — The pilot and passenger of a small plane that went down near the Schaumburg Regional Airport late Wednesday morning were treated and released without serious injury, municipal authorities said.

The plane that went down at about 11 a.m. on West Irving Park Road between Roselle and Rodenburg roads is a fixed-wing, single engine Piper registered to an owner in Muscatine, Iowa, according the Federal Aviation Administration’s registry . It was en route to Schaumburg Regional Airport from Southern Regional Airport in Janesville, Wis., when it crashed, data from FlightAware.com indicates.

An eyewitness who identified himself only as Edgar said the plane was attempting to land when it went down in a line of trees.

“We just saw the plane coming right straight in front of us on Irving Park and I’m like, ‘OK, it’s just going to turn. The landing is right next to us,’ but unfortunately it just came right in front of us. [The pilot] was able to turn it to the right, so he went into the trees. That’s how he stopped the plane,” he said.

Edgar said the sight was especially alarming because he was listening to coverage of ceremonies honoring the victims of the attacks of September 11, 2001 when he saw the plane go down.

The plane crashed on the property that David Lien and his wife have owned for 41 years.

“It’s funny. We didn’t hear a thing. And the only reason we knew that there was something was wrong was we saw all the emergency vehicles. And so I came out to see if there was a car accident and then I saw a plane in my bushes,” Lien said.

He said the runway to the airport is just about 300 yards from his property, adding that planes are “pretty low when they come by here.”

The portion of Irving Park Road reopened to traffic at about 3 p.m. after the aircraft was removed.

The DuPage County Sheriff’s Department is assisting the FAA in the investigation, officials said.

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