1 killed, 1 injured as plane crashes into home near Woodinville
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WOODINVILLE, Wash. - A small plane crashed into a home Saturday near Woodinville, killing the pilot and critically injuring a passenger aboard the aircraft, police said.
Firefighters and police responded to the scene, near NE 144th Street and 232rd Avenue NE, at about 3 p.m. after receiving a report of a plane crash into a single-family home.
Two people were aboard the plane. The pilot, Jay Uusitalo, 45, of Redmond, was found dead at the scene.
The passenger, a teen from Eastern Washington who is Uusitalo's nephew, was rushed to Harborview Medical Center with severe lacerations to the head and chest, as well as internal injuries. He initially was listed in critical condition, but was upgraded to serious on Saturday.
Two teenage boys were inside the home at the time, only feet away from the spot where the plane crashed.
In an interview, they said they heard a loud crash and the whole house shook. They then saw the wing of a plane inside the home.
"I was sitting in my house, and I hear a loud bang. And I - like thunder - I was thinking thunder," said one of the teens. "I look outside, and I look down, and there's the wing right down below it, below the window. And I was right there, too. I didn't realize how close it was to hitting me."
Other witnesses who live in the neighborhood say they heard sputtering and looked up. They saw the propeller on the plane stop and the aircraft flipped upside down, crashing into the home.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration registry, the fixed-wing single engine plane is registered in Redmond and it seats up to four people.
It was not immediately known where the plane was coming from or where it was headed.
The FAA, National Transportation Safety Board and the King County Sheriff's Office are all investigating the crash.
The plane's wreckage likely will not be removed until Sunday, officials said.
Firefighters and police responded to the scene, near NE 144th Street and 232rd Avenue NE, at about 3 p.m. after receiving a report of a plane crash into a single-family home.
Two people were aboard the plane. The pilot, Jay Uusitalo, 45, of Redmond, was found dead at the scene.
The passenger, a teen from Eastern Washington who is Uusitalo's nephew, was rushed to Harborview Medical Center with severe lacerations to the head and chest, as well as internal injuries. He initially was listed in critical condition, but was upgraded to serious on Saturday.
Two teenage boys were inside the home at the time, only feet away from the spot where the plane crashed.
In an interview, they said they heard a loud crash and the whole house shook. They then saw the wing of a plane inside the home.
"I was sitting in my house, and I hear a loud bang. And I - like thunder - I was thinking thunder," said one of the teens. "I look outside, and I look down, and there's the wing right down below it, below the window. And I was right there, too. I didn't realize how close it was to hitting me."
 Jay Uusitalo |
Other witnesses who live in the neighborhood say they heard sputtering and looked up. They saw the propeller on the plane stop and the aircraft flipped upside down, crashing into the home.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration registry, the fixed-wing single engine plane is registered in Redmond and it seats up to four people.
It was not immediately known where the plane was coming from or where it was headed.
The FAA, National Transportation Safety Board and the King County Sheriff's Office are all investigating the crash.
The plane's wreckage likely will not be removed until Sunday, officials said.
Here's to a speedy recovery of the nephew... also, my condolences for the family and friends of the pilot. I'm sure he was well loved and will be deeply missed.
I also wish for sensitivity, respect, and thoughtful consideration in the discussions the accident will likely provoke in the communities, online and in real life. No amount of Monday-morning Quarterbacking (aka speculation) will bring the pilot back. However, the NTSB findings, when published, will likely provide interesting insights.
How traumatic for everyone involved. The family of the victims and the people who live in the home. Can you imagine a plane crashing into your home and the pilot dying right there?
@cm257n7 No I cant imagine but can only guess, it must be terrible. I hope the kid makes it. Prayers all around for those involved.
My heart goes out to the family of these two men. This is so sad, loss of life is so hard. I pray that the boy comes out of this.. My thoughts and prayers are with this family!
it seems like most single engine plane crashes are old crustry planes that should be retired. this one is 34 years old. we trade in our cars every 10 years or so. airplanes should go through a serious faa inspection annually if they are going to be flying over your and my houses. glad this plane did not hit 10' up or tallon would have been killed while sitting in his house minding his own business. condolences to jay's family & prayers for his passenger's speedy recovery.
@dorimonsonfan Aviation is perhaps the most regulated transportation system in the world. All airplanes are, by Federal law, thoroughly inspected annually / every 100 hours of service, as well as a pre-flight "walk around" with a detailed checklist in hand. Pilots fill out "squawk lists" of any discrepancies found, some of which immediately ground the airplane until repaired, resulting in expensive cancellations in the airline world, and simple inconveniences in the private world. When was the last time you checked your brake pads, tires, headlights, wipers, turn signals, and horn before driving through a school zone or residential neighborhood? Lives are at stake.
Engine failures are extraordinarily rare, yet as pilots, we train for them. A simulated engine failure is even on the flight tests. As Sullenberger found out, well practiced "stick and rudder" skills learned in small planes and gliders can save the day even in an A320, which has an impressive glide ratio.
Also, airplanes are remarkably durable compared to cars. If you maintained a car like you are required to maintain an airplane, you could keep you car roadworthy and safe for many decades and millions of miles. Indeed, some people do just that.
Keeping skills up is another matter... if drivers were tested to the same stringency as pilots, including a recurring medical, biennial review, and a culture of safety, we'd probably have safer roads. But, we don't, and accept the convenience and status quo as being good enough.
@dorimonsonfan Please read up on Federal Aviation Regulations before you make comments like this.  They are easily found with a Google search.Â
@dorimonsonfanPlease read up on FAA regulations. All airplanes DO go through annual inspections to maintain airworthiness. Does your car? If the airplane was not airworthy, the inspectors would not sign off on it, thus, it would be grounded until repairs were made. Do you drive your car in pristine condition? Or do you ignore the 'Check Engine' light?
@dorimonsonfan That plane was inspected every year. What the witnesses described was a aggravated stall (Spin) when the wing got too slow. Could have been a medical emergency with the pilot and the kid tried flying and let it get to slow and one wing quit flying before the other hence, the roll over.
@T_BONE_WALKER @dorimonsonfan could have been a lot of things.
Here's to a speedy recovery for the passenger. Thoughts and prayers to all the friends and family....
Probably just another idiot that shouldn't have a pilots license. We'll have to wait for the findings but I bet its the same reason most small planes crash, out of gas. If you're too stupid to keep an eye on the gas gauge then you probably shouldn't be flying.Â
@Blindman the gas guages on aircraft certificated under FAR part 23 are only required per regulations to be accurate when empty....fuel burn is calculated by time at a specific burn rate..obtained by aircraft performance charts...which obtain those fuel burn rates taking into consideration, temperature, altitude, power settings used by the pilot...and leaning techniques as specified in the pilots operating handbook specific to each aircraft.
@Blindman your name fits you.. what a horrible thing to say! I lost 3 of my very best friends the same way.. their uncle was a great pilot.. bad things happen to good people.. In this familys time of loss your words are hurtful and unkind. You know nothing about this man. Nor do I. But I know that this family is suffering great loss, and your words offend the hell out of me.. I pray for this family to get threw this loss. It is VERY painful. there isnt a day when I dont think about my friends and where they would be today. They were so young when they died.. To the family, you are all in my thoughts and prayers! I pray for a speedy recovery of you young man. My deepest sympathy for your loss..
@Blindman This sounds like alot of assumption without any hard evidence....
@Blindman Each of us is entitled to our opinion. I respectfully disagree with you. Jay was a smart guy, a safety conscious pilot with an instrument rating. Let's wait for the experts to piece together what went wrong. At thee end of the day, it won't bring our good friend back, and so many will sill be in mourning for years to come.
Anybody who has met or flown with Jay knows he had a heart of gold. We will miss you and when you see a rainbow, please think of Jay.
I was working in my backyard today and am pretty sure I saw this plane over my house. It caught my attention because of the sound of the engine. It seemed irregular as if it shut off and restarted. It was also right around the time it reportedly crashed. I live in southeast Everett around the Cathcart area. Any reason I should contact anyone about this?
@Rix2563 Yes, Absolutely: National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). They investigate every civilian air crash and it is one of the best examples of a government agency, that virtually all experts concur, do a great job. And Thank You; the More Fellow Citizens Who Even Think They May Have Witnessed Something that MAY Help, Any Accident (or crime) Investigation, Who Step Up......the Better for All Of Us!
@SeattleSports64 I know someone who lives near there, but thankfully, that is not their house.
Very sad. Â I am a huge aviation buff and student pilot. Â I am first saddened for the loss of this pilot and for the family and the flying community. Â Second, I am always curious as to the nature of the cause of any crash. Â I am most interested in how witnesses describe that it flipped over? Â Did I read that correct? Â Once the prop stopped I'm sure he established best glide speed but from there one can only guess. Â RIP Jay, there are no such thing as unsafe flights in Heaven. Â Hope your nephew makes a full recovery.
@Aros The witnesses described an engine out and a spin (Aggravated Stall). Much like you would see if you brought the wing to the ragged edge with aerodynamic buffeting and then kicked full right rudder, the left wing increases in speed (From right rudder) while the right wing further slows down and quits flying, the left wing increases in lift while the right quits flying and the plane rotates over and goes down. Have your instructor show you this and the recovery. It mostly gets pilots turning from base to final as their attention is divided between about 8 different things and the plane gets too slow and the pilot kicks extra rudder to line up with the runway and wham, it there and with no room to recover. Learn it at 3500 ft + so it never gets you.
Back in the day (Before instruments and in Bi-planes), pilots used the stall/spin to descend through a cloud layer without losing control. Once out of the clouds, the pilot simply recovers from the stall and flys on. You can hold a plane in a spin as long as you want and it wont get going fast at all. It will be spinning fast but not covering any ground because you're still holding the initial stall.
I had wondered if the pilot had experienced some medical emergency or something and the kid was flying because an engine out over Duvall in a Maule is not that big of a deal with all the places to simply do a dead stick landing. Good luck with your studies and keep at it even when it seems impossible, just keep at it, its worth it.
Condolences to everyone involved.
@Aros Being a aviation enthusiast and pilot, my best guess is he slowed the aircraft to the lowest possible airspeed just before touch down. At that low airspeed, if one wing stalls before the other, it will cause the aircraft to roll inverted. The stall speed on the Maule is 38mph with 1 person on board and 1/2 fuel. This aircraft is capable of short field take offs and landings. I am positive, knowing the flight experience of Jay, that there was no suitable landing area and he did what he could. RIP fellow aviator.
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@Tom-RNTÂ @Aros Jay might have been trying to make it to the lake just east of where they went down
@Tom-RNT @BuddyHolly @ArosÂ
One thing is for sure...Jay was certainly looking for the safest crash landing...For some reason the plane ended up in that house.  We can't begin to speculate as to why.  Every pilot seeks the best possible outcome...The fact that he hit a house tells me something went terribly wrong for him beyond the obvious.
How could you not want to go and get some really good flight time in today,you could not have cleaner,crisperÂ
skys to fly in today. Saddly we lost a pilot and have a wounded passenger Thoughts to crew family and friends
Sad day indeed.
@hwystar71Â Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward Iâve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds, â and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hovâring there,
Iâve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless falls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
Iâve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, nor eer eagle flew â
And, while with silent lifting mind Iâve trod
The high, untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
R.I.P. Jay ...
@hwystar71Â Â Exactly! Â Today I was at the Museum of Flight "Women of Aviation" event donating my time and airplane giving rides to women and girls. Â I introduced 15 of them to the magic of aviation with their first flight in a small plane. Â Some were nervous and a little scared at first, but after a 10 minute ride around Seattle in the blue skies and sun, they all came back smiling and very excited. Â A very rewarding day for me, and it's my 3rd year doing this. Â I'll be back again tomorrow for some more flights. Â
THAT is why we fly. Â Jay was flying for those same reasons and will be greatly missed in our pilot community. Â
:-(
Rest in peace Mr. Uusitalo. I pray your nephew makes a full recovery. My deepest sympathies to Jay's family and friends.
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@Snowman5678Â What a DOLT! An airplane without the engine running is a glider, and they are very controllable. For a non-pilot/non-aviation expert to make uneducated statements like this is disgraceful!
@Tracy SÂ @Snowman5678Â because a plane flipped upside down is so easy to control i would LOVE to see you try...i live a few miles from where this and there is an open field and a small lake RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from this house and im sure jay tried his best to control it but it would make me think that first of all the engine went out and maybe some other manual (non electronic) controls jammed...or there was some sort of medical emergency and the copilot was trying to control or something like that you DOLT.Â
@Snowman5678 As much as you think you know it all.. this should be a time of condolence and uplifting for this family.. I dont understand why all these negitive comments on what could have been! That is a job for EXPERTS!! not random know it alls.. It hurts me deeply to see these comments.
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@Tom-RNTÂ @Snowman5678my thoughts would be some non electronic controls also jammed or there was some sort of medical emergency and the younger less experienced co-pilot tried to take control but didn't have the skills to properly try to land it by the field and lake across the street from this house. Obviously though we will have to wait for the reports to come out although it wont be for a long time, when my friend died in a plane crash last year it took 8 months for them to issue a report and even then there still not 100% sure of the cause.
@komonews lesson is, don't fly
@dw_vinton @komonews Don't fly, don't drive, don't swim, don't hike, don't ride a bus, don't have any sense of adventure and curiosity of the world?  No thanks.  I'll keep flying and TEACHING people to fly.Â
@Tom-RNT @komonews Say it Loud!! Bethany Hamilton didnt stop surfing after a shark bit off her arm!!
@dw_vinton @komonews Fact is, flying is safer than driving! Get your facts straight...
Jay was a childhood friend of mine. Â PLEASE don't speculate or become "experts" on what happened and keep it to yourselves. Â I'm a huge supporter of aviation, a flight instructor, and been flying for 21 years. Â I've flown with Jay many times and he was a very skilled and careful pilot. Â All you do when you make derogatory, uneducated remarks just p*sses off the pilot community.Â
Jay was doing what he loved best. Â :-(
@Tom-RNTSo sorry for he loss of your friend. Â Do you know if Jay ever went to middle school in OR for a short time? Â
@Tom-RNTÂ Say it Loud!!
@Tom-RNTSo sorry for your loss. My husband is a Cessna pilot and I have started lessons as well. Today was such a beautiful day and it sounds like Jay was enjoying it. I am so sad he didn't make it but at least he was where he loved. Much peace to you, his friends and family and especially his nephew.
@Lisa Kollmansberger @Tom-RNT Congrats on taking lessons!  Keep at it, its all worth it...but you know that already. Â
@Tom-RNTÂ My deepest condolences.
@what? @Tom-RNT Thanks.
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@Whobeke Did you bother to look up the cross streets in the article? This hosue is across the street from Radar Lake, which would be the biggest target emergency landing spot in that area (shallow, long with lots of open space around it. seems idea for waterskiing :) ). The laws of physics and the limits of aerodynamics take over pretty quickly when you lose engine power in a plane. You cannot fault a pilot for not being quite able to crash in a convenient spot.  Insurance is the proper recourse here, the pilots liability insurance and the property owner's homeowners policy should be able to work something out.
@Whobeke
in an emergency bad things can happen...you do the best to deal with the inflight emergency...sometimes there isn't an ideal emergency landing spot and you gotta make due with what you have. It is a very dynamic, scary and uncontrolled unknown you may find yourself dealing with.....as a pilot who's put down 2 planes in an emergency....i find your comment rude, offensive and ignorant.
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@Tom-RNTÂ
It's unfortunate that you lost your friend. However, if a plane crashed into your house, would you be quite so sanguine? Would you really not seek financial recourse?  If someone crashes a car into an occupied building, the same rules generally apply. Planes are no different.Â
@Whobeke If a plane crashed into my house.. My first and only though would be for the people in the plane. House can be rebuilt.. Lives can not be givin back! I would hopefully have house insurance that covers that.. If not I would find a way other then "seeking financial recourse" that just makes me sick.. I pray that you never fall asleep and crash into someones house.. car, plane, boat.. wtf ever.. All this talk about money and inexperience of the piolet makes me want to puke.. these people just lost their family, and one is in critical condition.. SHAME ON YOU AND YOUR MONEY HUNGRY WAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Whobeke
30 years ago a plane did crash into my parents house - both occupants of the plane perished. Â The insurance did not cover all the damage but my folks figured that family had enough grief and did not ask them to cover the shortfall.
The NTSB however did a fine job of ripping up their yard recovering the aircraft.
@Tom-RNTÂ I didn't find the comment offensive in a way you probably did, but I did find it rather unintelligent. It is not like the pilot crashed into the house on purpose. And the pilot may have not had the options available the poster speaks of. In emergency situations, you usually do not have ideal conditions for landing, I am sure. I am not a pilot, so I don't know. It just seems like common sense. Which @whobeke seems to lack.
@Whobeke In emergency situations like this, where the engine may have cut out, we pilots are trained to take specific measures to try and make it down safely withought injuries or property damage. The investigation has just begun, so please let the experts figure out what happened. There is a small lake near that property and he may have been trying to glide it there. Again, please don't judge Jay. He has a wife and small kids who just lost a husband/Daddy.