A small single-engine plane crashed in a Northeast Philadelphia park on Wednesday afternoon, sending two people to the hospital. The incident unfolded near Friends of Fluehr Park on Grant and Torresdale avenues shortly before 4pm drawing firefighters, police and hazmat crews to the scene.
What happened
According to Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Jeffrey Thompson as cited by NBC, firefighters reached the crash site and rescued both the pilot and the passenger from the plane. They were taken to the hospital and although their exact condition is not known, both were alert and conscious at the time.
One of the two people injured in the crash is an off-duty Philadelphia police officer, though it is not yet clear whether the officer was the pilot or the passenger, according to NBC 10.
Thompson said the crash did not cause a fire but there was a small fuel spill. Hazmat teams, along with police and firefighters, stayed at the scene to handle it.
According to FlightAware cited by CBS, the plane took off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport at 3:01pm, meaning it was in the air for less than an hour before the crash.
What we know about the plane
According to the FAA, the plane was a single-engine Piper PA-28, made in 2021 with registration number N494LA. It is registered to Piper 3 LLC in Chestnut Ridge, New York.
NBC10 reported that the plane was being used for training by Fly Legacy Aviation, a flight school on Ashton Road in Philadelphia, as confirmed by the school’s general manager.
Crash site near previous deadly incident
The emergency landing took place at Friends of Fluehr Park, about five miles from the site of a deadly crash in 2025.
On January 31, 2025, a medical Learjet 55 crashed near Roosevelt Mall, killing eight people, including all six on board, and injuring about two dozen others. According to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), that aircraft was in the air for less than one minute before it crashed. The NTSB is expected to release more details on that incident in July.
