Palatine plane crash was blocks from where another occurred in 2007
The dramatic emergency landing of a small plane on a Palatine street Thursday night brought back memories of a similar crash only blocks away 13 years ago.
"I was on that one. Me and my partner were actually out there," Palatine Police Cmdr. Dave Weeks said Friday, recalling the May 11, 2007 landing of a Piper Cherokee Cruiser plane at Northwest Highway and Quentin Road. "We had never seen an airplane land on Northwest Highway before."
Then came Thursday, when Weeks' phone started buzzing after 6 p.m.
"There was one several years ago, and lo and behold we got phone calls saying another one landed," Weeks said. "It's strange."
This time, the crash scene was about a half-mile south, at Quentin and Colfax Street. The pilot of the fixed wing single-engine Cessna landed after experiencing engine issues, according to a preliminary Federal Aviation Administration accident report.
Witnesses said the plane nearly missed striking cars on the busy roadway after they were able to veer out of the way.
"I saw a bright light, so I thought it was like a normal car," said Rhic Tolentino, a student driver from Palatine, who was with his driver's education instructor on Quentin Road. "Then I look over (and) see the wing of the plane. It was about to hit us, so I just swerved to the right."
"It was very close," he said. "If I didn't swerve, it would've hit us. It was super close."
It was a different outcome in the 2007 crash, when the small four-seat aircraft ran out of fuel and, as it was coming down, scratched the roof of a Mini Cooper driven by an Arlington Heights man, according to Daily Herald archives. The plane clipped a neutral power line before it landed on the street in front of Brandt's restaurant.
No one was hurt in either plane crash.
The plane in the crash Thursday night was en route from Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling to Lake in the Hills Airport, sources said at the scene.
Lupe Schoffstall, a witness who was picking tomatoes in her neighbor's backyard at the time, said the plane landed at the top of a hill on Quentin Road and slid all the way down. Its wing hit a telephone pole, causing the fuselage to spin until the tail hit a tree.
She said she ran from her neighbor's garden to where the plane had landed. The pilot got out unscathed and told her he was OK.
The plane, a 1975 Cessna 177RG, was recently purchased by Zain Aviation, a flight school and tour operator based at Chicago Executive Airport.
The company posted photos of the plane on its Facebook page in June, touting its training program for those looking to become a certified flight instructor.
Its FAA registration application, dated June 17, is pending, FAA records show.
Officials at Zain Aviation didn't respond to requests for comment Friday.
Weeks said the Palatine Police Department is finishing its report on the incident, though investigation of what led the plane to crash is being handled by the FAA.
• Daily Herald Staff Photographer Mark Welsh contributed to this report.