FATAL CRASH SCARES METHUEN NEIGHBORS
The fatal crash of a homebuilt plane in Methuen that claimed the life of the pilot has rattled neighbors pushing for a change in flight patterns after being buzzed once too often by tree-top close calls coming from the nearby airport.
Yesterday’s 1 p.m. accident claimed the life of former Newburyport Mayor Alan Lavender, 73, officials said, after he crashed his Sonex all-metal monoplane into the roof of a condo complex.
“I heard a loud boom and when I looked outside there was insulation coming down like snow,” said Nancy Downey, a resident of the building that was hit. “It scared me half to death.”
Downey said it is “a dangerous thing” to be in the flight path of the planes coming from Lawrence Municipal Airport located just across the nearby Merrimack River in North Andover. Authorities said the plane was attempting to land when it crashed into the roof of the complex.
First responders reported finding heavy smoke pouring from a gaping hole in the roof of Building 7 in
the Prides Crossing complex. Lavender was the lone victim of the crash.
Ron Coholan, a resident in the building next to the one hit, said he hopes this accident will make the airport rethink its flight patterns. His previous residence, Building 3, was nearly hit about 18 years ago.
“I hope Lawrence airport will redirect flights,” he said.
Coholan said he “heard a big bang. All I could see was smoke. Once the smoke cleared I saw the tail of the plane.”
A sprinkler system inside the building kept the flames at bay, according to Methuen fire Chief Tim Sheehy, as firefighters smashed down doors to gain access to the two unoccupied apartments that now shared the fuselage of the crashed plane.
The lack of injuries beyond the pilot was a miracle, Sheehy said.
Lavender’s next door neighbor for more than 30 years, Erford Fowler, said he watched him put the plane together in his driveway and shook his head in disbelief that his friend was gone. “I can’t believe it,” he said. The two neighbors were both involved in politics, Fowler as a city councilor when Lavender was mayor.
“He was a very caring type of mayor,” Fowler said. “He just loved people.”
Lavender was a city councilor at-large in Newburyport for eight years prior to being elected mayor. He led the city for a single two-year term, from 2002 to 2003.
Bob Di Meo, vice president of the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association of which Lavender was a member, helped the former mayor as he built the plane and called him a “very personable, very nice guy.”
“He was always there to share a joke, and he will certainly be missed,” he said, adding that after Lavender first flew his plane, he texted Di Meo: “First Flight.”
The complex has had more than its share of headaches from its airport neighbor. Residents say their concerns about noise and flight schedules have been routinely ignored by airport officials, and Methuen Mayor Stephen Zanni said it’s time he and the airport have a talk — as this is the third crash on the complex grounds since 1991.
“It’s a safety issue; there’s no question,” Zanni said. “We are going to check with the airport because there are conditions there we want to look at as well in terms of taking off and landing.”
In 1999, a single engine plane taking off from the airport crash-landed three feet from one of the complex buildings, and another crashed in 1991, Zanni said.
An accident investigation team dispatched from the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington, D.C., was expected to arrive at the scene last night, a spokesman said.