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Small plane crashes in Chicago northwest suburb

Small plane crashes in Chicago northwest suburb
Small plane crashes in Chicago northwest suburb 02:20

CHICAGO (CBS) — A small plane crashed near Schaumburg Regional Airport on Wednesday. 

Around 11 a.m., Roselle police confirmed that the plane, a four-seat Piper Cherokee 140 used for a training flight, had crashed into a ditch at Irving Park Road and Williams Street. 

Police said the two occupants, the flight instructor and student, were evacuated by firefighters and did not require medical attention. A preliminary cause of the crash was due to engine loss and loss of power during their approach to Schaumburg. 

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The NTSB and the FAA are investigating the crash. 

Irving Park Road was shut down in both directions from Roselle to Rodenburg roads for multiple hours.

The plane is registered to Lima 001 LLC in Muscatine, Iowa.  According to a replay of the trip on FlightAware, the plane took off from Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport in Janesville, Wis., shortly before 10 a.m. 

It landed and then immediately took off from Schaumburg around 10:45 and quickly circled back to the airport.  It appeared to crash land short of the airport runway, clipping a residential garbage can in a driveway.

The owner of the plane commended the person who landed it, saying it was as seamless as possible.

Chicago area neighbors shocked to see small plane crash near them 02:19

A tow truck arrived shortly before 1:30 p.m. to remove the aircraft. 

A few hundred yards from the airport, David Lein said it was "very surprising to see an airplane almost in our yard."

"I yelled back to my wife, 'It's an airplane!'" he said. "And she [said], 'What?'"

Jason Patfield works next door and always watches planes land from his window.

"And so I'm talking to my co-worker and I'm looking outside and I see this plane and I'm like, 'This thing seems pretty low,'" Patfield said.

The sight was definitely different.

"He missed the power lines," Patfield said. "He missed the trees and he just did a soft landing just right in the bushes and it was incredible."

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