Pilot Dies as Plane Crashes Into Home, Explodes

A small plane crashed into a house and exploded Friday, killing the pilot. Six people in the house escaped, including one who was blown out of the shower, police and witnesses said.

The pilot was dead at the scene, in central Westchester County, said Gus Wagner, a Pleasantville fire dispatcher.

No one else was aboard the aircraft, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.

“It hit like an earthquake, and then it was a double explosion,” said a neighbor, Helen Ochs.

The twin-engine Beech Baron aircraft, flying from Syracuse, crashed about five miles northwest of the Westchester County Airport, its destination, Bergen said.

In the house were Robert Fischetti, 20; his mother, Teresa; his 14-year-old sister, Tracey, and three friends, Daniel Russo, 19, Keith Brockstedt, 18, and Michael Gallo, also 18, said Pleasantville Police Chief Joseph Davi.

“Something came through the roof, and at first we thought it was a tree,” Brockstedt said. “Then we just ran.”

Fischetti was in the shower when the plane struck and was blown out of it on impact, said Russo, who said he pulled the injured man out of the house.

Fischetti was in satisfactory condition in the burn unit at Westchester County Medical Center with first-degree burns over 15% of his body, said hospital spokeswoman Nancy McPartlin.

Teresa Fischetti was treated for a minor injury at the medical center and released; the others were unhurt, hospital officials said.

The pilot was identified by police Sgt. Morris Weaver as Richard Rosenthal, 45, of Briarcliff Manor.

The house was gutted, and a fire burned in the rubble for two hours after the crash.