Plane crashes into swamp near Danbury airport, USA

A man who crashed his single-engine plane into 10 feet of swamp water a quarter-mile south of Danbury Municipal Airport on Thursday night was able to climb out of the cockpit and onto the top the plane uninjured.

The man was not identified by the Danbury Fire Department. The plane is registered to Lionel G. Brown, of Newtown.

The pilot did not volunteer exactly what went wrong to rescuers, officials said.

He was the only one in the plane and he was sent home about an hour after the crash.

“As we understand it, whatever trouble the plane had happened just before it landed, and there was no time to get out a distress signal,” said Bernie Meehan, Danbury’s assistant fire chief.

“Any plane crash you walk away from is a good one. He had his seat belt on and he knew what he was doing and he was able to walk away uninjured.”

Neighbors said they heard the crash but did not see it. The swamp is bordered by hills to the south and heavy overgrowth on three sides.

“I hear stuff all the time because I live here, and that didn’t sound right,” said Greg Mareno, a truck driver who lives on Miry Brook Road. “One plane came in and then I heard another one, and I said, `What the heck was that?’ “

Fire officials would not speculate what caused the accident, and said the National Transportation Safety Board would investigate.

The plane was a single-engine 1984 Beechcraft Bonanza.

“He was on an approach to the runway, and that is all I know at this point,” said Paul Estefan, the airport administrator.

The accident marks the third airplane crash at the Danbury airport since 2011.

In 2013, a small plane landed on a runway without landing gear. There were no serious injuries.

In 2011 a plane crashed on Wooster Mountain, killing the pilot.

Of Thursday’s crash, Steven Rogers, fire department spokesman, said, “This man was fortunate. When we arrived he was on top of his plane calling 911 and calling people he cared about so that they knew he was OK.”

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