DDH Aviation CHG 600 Crash TEB
Private jet skids, hits New Jersey building
Two people missing; at least 11 injured
Wednesday, February 2, 2005 Posted: 8:55 AM EST (1355 GMT)
TETERBORO, New Jersey (AP) -- A small jet skidded off the runway at Teterboro Airport on Wednesday, crossing a highway during the morning rush hour before slamming into a building. At least 11 people were injured and two were missing.
A traffic helicopter pilot for New York radio station WCBS said the plane went off the runway and broke through a fence. It appeared to strike at least one car.
State police said two people were missing and 11 were injured in the crash. It was not immediately clear whether all those people were on the plane.
It was headed for Midway Airport in Chicago, said Greg Martin, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, D.C., and early reports indicate that 12 passengers were on board.
Martin said communication between the air traffic control and the aircraft was routine, and that the aircraft had been cleared for takeoff.
Martin described the aircraft as a twin-engine Canadair, Challenger 60, "a type of small regional business/charter jet," which can carry 12 to 15 passengers.
The building that was struck has been described as a clothing warehouse, and that there were no injuries there, Martin said.
Television reports showed smoke billowing from the building and skid marks leading to the crash site. The tire tracks, plainly visible in snow, ran straight off the end of the runway, through a fence and a snowbank and then across the highway.
State Police Trooper Stephen Jones said emergency management crews at the warehouse were conducting "a rescue operation."
"You act on that assumption until you know otherwise," he said.
Route 46 closed in both directions and broadcast reports said the airport, in the northern New Jersey suburbs 12 miles from midtown Manhattan, was closed.
The FAA Web site says plane is registered to a company called 448 Alliance LLC, and gives an address in Dallas. Directory assistance has no company with that name, but does show a DDH Aviation at the same address. No one answered the phone there.
Once considered a destination for weekend recreational fliers, Teterboro has grown into one of the nation's busiest small airports, catering to corporate jets looking to avoid the hassles of larger airports.
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