Plane Crashed Into Neighborhood, 2 Severely Injured: Sheriff

RACINE COUNTY, WI — Two people suffered life-threatening injuries after the plane they were flying in crashed into a neighborhood in Burlington, authorities said late Sunday.

According to the Racine County Sheriff's office, a single-engine plane carrying one passenger took off at the Burlington Municipal Airport around 2:40 p.m. Sunday. Witnesses told authorities they saw the plane was having a difficult time gaining altitude, and narrowly missed a tree line before it crashed into a neighborhood, just missing a house.

Sheriff's officials said they found the pilot and passenger conscious, though with life-threatening injuries. Both people had to be extricated from the plane, which came to rest upside-down in a Burlington resident's yard.

Authorities said Flight for Life was sent to the area with two helicopters to take both the pilot and the passenger to Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee for treatment.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were both notified and are handling the investigation, sheriff's officials said.

According to FAA records, the plane is a single-engine Piper PA-22-150 Tri-Pacer listed to a 68-year-old Racine man. The cause of the crash has yet to be publicly released.