NTSB, FAA Investigate Saturday Morning Accident

A Piper PA32 Saratoga with three aboard crashed into a wooded area near a golf course in Northern Baltimore County, MD Saturday, killing the pilot and his two passengers, the AP reported.

No one on the ground was injured.

The plane (file photo of type, above) crashed shortly after takeoff, between 9 and 9:30 a.m., according to NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz. It had taken off from Harford County Airport, Churchville, MD, on its way to Abingdon, VA.

In addition to the NTSB, investigators from the FAA, Piper, and Lycoming were at the crash site Saturday, Lopatkiewicz reported.

Although the plane crashed near the Hillendale Country Club golf course, fire department spokeswoman Elise Armacost said it was not clear if the pilot was trying to land at the course.

Neighbors, according to the Baltimore Sun, speculated that the plane might have been trying to make an emergency landing at the Hillendale Country Club's golf course, located a few hundred yards away.

"I can only guess that they were trying to get to the golf course and they just didn't make it," said neighbor Laura Plunkett.

The plane crashed about 75 feet from a home that was not occupied at the time of the crash, Armacost said, with some of the wreckage as close as ten feet the home. A wing of the plane lay near the owners' manicured shrubs.

"No one was home at the time and it is extremely fortunate the plane did not crash into the house," she said.

Pieces of the plane hung in tree branches and were strewn across the ground.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.faa.gov