HEDGESVILLE, W.Va.—
A 70-year-old Connecticut man was dead after he crashed a small airplane into a home in Berkeley County early Wednesday evening, according to a police press release.The plane struck the home and an attached wooden deck in the Little Georgetown area of Hedgesville at about 5:30 p.m., according to the release from the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office. The residence was just east of Green Landings, a private airfield off McCoys Ferry Road.
The pilot, Harry L. Weber, was flown by helicopter to Inova Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax, Va., where he was pronounced dead, the release said. The cause of his death was unknown.
Weber apparently was taxiing his Arion Lightning fixed-wing, single-engine plane on the runway preparing to take off when the plane veered east from the runway across a grassy area and struck the foundation of the residence at 79 Chisholm Drive, the release said.
The Hedgesville and Bedington fire departments and Berkeley County Emergency Ambulance Authority responded to the scene along with deputies from the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office.
The crash will be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Berkeley County Sheriff's Office and the Berkeley County Deputy Reserves will be provide security at the plane crash site until FAA and NTSB investigators arrive.
