Stow plane crash victims are 'miraculously' alive, family says
STOW – Three people who were seriously hurt in a plane crash in Stow are "miraculously" alive and expected to survive, according to a relative.
The small plane crashed in the area of Taylor Road between two homes Sunday. The neighborhood is near the runway at Minute Man Air Field. The wreckage could be seen in the woods just feet from a swing set in a back yard.
Police said all three people on board were taken to the hospital in a medical rescue helicopter.
Norma Lavini told WBZ-TV Monday her brothers, James and Robert Bauer, and her niece 16-year-old Daniella Bauer, were on the plane and spent the night at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.
"My niece has a broken wrist, broken jaw, but she's walking," said Lavini. "My brother had the brains to go in between the trees and not impact any homes or anybody else."
Lavini said all three are in the intensive care unit, but "from what I can gather, not in critical condition." Lavini said one of her brothers has broken ribs and face lacerations. She is grateful for the neighbors who helped and the first responders for their quick actions.
James Bauer, a retired airline mechanic, was the pilot. He owns the plane was flying his brother to pick up Robert's daughter Daniella from camp in Lake Placid. They were on the way back home and about to land Sunday when they crashed. Robert Bauer is a science teacher at Brooks School in North Andover, where Daniella is a student.
Luis Bauer looked at the wreckage and can't believe his relatives survived the crash. "My brother was sitting in the backseat. I was looking, there's no backseat. Everything's like compressed almost to the front. It's a miracle," he said. "Eight staples in the head and the neck. He cannot move the neck, but he can feel his arm and feet, and then there were bruises all over the place."
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are looking into what caused he crash.
"The aircraft is in very bad shape," said federal aviation safety investigator Philip Kingston, who's helping with the FAA investigation. "It's an exhaustive process. It will take quite a number of months. The NTSB report will take probably somewhere between 18 to 24 months to come out because we look at everything," he said.
