Plane crashes in Bristow, student pilot injured

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Update 

An investigation into a small plane crash today in Bristow shows the single engine crash lost power before it crashed into a  wooded area, narrowly missing homes.

Police identified the plane as a fixed-wing 1980 Piper PA28-161.

11 a.m. 

A student pilot crashed her plane behind a house on Upper Mill Loop in Bristow.

The single-engine PA-28 Cherokee came down in a wooded area behind in a home in the 9600 block of the residential neighborhood, just off Linton Hall Road at 9:11 a.m., according to Virginia State Police.

After the crash, the fuselage of the plane laid in the woods while one of the planes wings that had broken off during the crash still hung in a tree.

The practice flight took off from Manassas Regional Airport and was due to land there. A witness who ran to help the pilot said she appeared to be in her 40s, had a gash on her head, was moaning, but could not talk.

Fire and rescue crews arrived on the scene and pulled the woman from the downed aircraft and took her to nearby Bristow Village shopping plaza where she was airlifted to a local hospital where she will be treated for serious injuries.

We do not know identity of the victim.

“We heard he woosh of the plane come over the house,” said Harry Lucy, who lives nearby.

Lucy, his father, and two other men rushed to help the pilot.

“I just couldn’t believe it happened here,” said the Marsteller Middle School student. “I was kind of scared for the pilot because I could hear her moaning.”

Police blocked off a portion of Upper Mill Loop to vehicle traffic while neighbors looked on. Several wreckers were brought to the scene to begin the process of clearing the wreckage.

Police warned people not to get too close to the scene due to plane’s broken wing still hanging in a tree.
We’ll have more on this as it develops.