A small plane crash in Burnet, Texas, left onlookers in shock as the aircraft struck a power line before crashing into a vehicle on U.S. Highway 281. The Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating the incident that occurred this past Sunday.
Authorities from the Federal Aviation Administration were notified after the single-engine Beechcraft B36 took off from Burnet airport, colliding with a power line around 3:15 p.m., according to KXAN. The crash resulted in serious injuries for the two occupants onboard the plane. Additionally, the driver of the struck vehicle sustained burn injuries and was taken to a medical facility in Austin, FOX 7 Austin reported.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have stepped in to investigate the incident. Accidents involving planes and ground vehicles are uncommon, which adds complexity to the crash investigation process. The situation was further complicated as a responding DPS trooper collided with an SUV at an intersection where the traffic signals were down due to the plane striking the power lines.
Ginger Westfall, an eyewitness to the trooper's accident, recounted the crash to FOX 7 Austin, "The trooper just careened, you know, into that [SUV]. And it was really loud. It was explosive." The trooper, and the three occupants of the SUV all sustained minor injuries. The DPS has claimed that the trooper had their emergency lights and sirens activated at the time of the incident.
In a heroic effort captured by an anonymous former pilot, the plane pilot's quick reaction after the crash may have saved further loss of life. "He jumped up on that wing that was on fire. Somehow he got the door open and crawled over his wife," the former pilot, an eyewitness to the crash, described in a statement obtained by FOX 7 Austin. "Picked her up with her clothes on fire, carried her and rolled her in the dirt and grass to put the fire out."
