A married father was killed when his small plane crashed in an upscale Georgia neighborhood. Shocking footage has emerged of a plane bursting into flames just meters from a mansion.
Jason McKenzie, 45, died when his single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza A36 crashed into the front lawn of a large Augusta home. First responders praised the aircraft for apparently maneuvering it to avoid hitting a home. WRDW reported.
The broken plane burst into flames just a few meters from the house, but surprisingly no one on the ground was injured.
“I think it was a miracle,” neighbor Lisa Lewis said. She said, “I think the Lord protected everyone else.”
McKenzie, Augusta University’s director of philanthropy, leaves behind a wife and young son, according to WRDW.
The report said he took off from nearby Daniel Field Airport on his way to Connecticut and reached an altitude of 625 feet before the plane plummeted to the ground.
First responders at the scene believed McKenzie was the one who took control of the plane to avoid further injuries on the ground.
“We were very fortunate that this plane didn’t hit the house,” National Transportation Safety Board investigator Ralph Hicks told WRDW.
The plane’s left wing tip remained stuck in a tree for several hours, and firefighters were finally able to remove it around 5 p.m., the news agency added.
Neighbor Lewis said he was waking his son up from school when he heard the plane crash.
“We live near Daniel Field, so we always hear the planes. But this time it was much louder than usual, getting louder and louder, making it sound like it was right outside the window. ” she told WRDW.
“A few seconds later I heard a crash, followed by a loud bang.”
McKenzie, who is married with a young son, was headed to New Haven, Connecticut, at the time of the accident.
One of the children’s father was the vice president of philanthropy at Augusta University, according to WRDW.
The Federal Aviation Administration told the program that the crash is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.
