According to early reports about Wednesday’s accident, an air traffic controller spotted smoke coming from the airplane shortly after takeoff. The pilot, Edgar Wong, reportedly tried to return to the airport, but didn’t make it. “You could hear it sputter, and puffs of smoke were coming out the back,” Danbury Police Officer Robert Madore, who was directing traffic nearby, told local reporters. “It came right down …There was a boom, and then a huge cloud of smoke.” Robert Hayner, a worker at a nearby FedEx station, found the wreckage upside down in an icy stream, and saw Wong struggling in the water. He waded in to help. Al Orne, his boss at FedEx, joined him and the two pulled the man to shore. Wong was taken to Bridgeport Hospital for treatment of burns. “I just hope that if something happened to us, that someone would be there to do the same,” Orne said. Wong is an instructor at Danbury Flight School.
…And A Dramatic Rescue…
Key Takeaways:
- A pilot, Edgar Wong, crashed shortly after takeoff near Danbury, CT, when his plane experienced engine issues and smoke, prompting an attempt to return to the airport.
- Two FedEx employees, Robert Hayner and Al Orne, bravely rescued the injured pilot from the upside-down wreckage in an icy stream.
- Wong, an instructor at Danbury Flight School, was hospitalized with burns following the accident.
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