Some witnesses at Monday’s plane crash said they believe the pilot deliberately aimed for an open lot to avoid hitting any occupied structures.

Early in the afternoon, the small two-seat plane plunged into the lot on Indiana Street.

David Parker, a resident at Pleasant Valley Health Care Center, said he was walking outside in the parking lot when he heard the sound of an aircraft.

“He lost power, then he got his power back,” he said. “I looked up, and he was going so fast I couldn’t tell what color the airplane was.”

Parker, 54, said everything happened very quickly.

“He was a blur,” Parker said. “But I could see he had one wing tilted up; he just barely missed this high line. I think he was trying to miss these buildings. When he hit the ground it exploded like a bomb went off. It threw everything off the plane, and there was nothing left but the frame.”

Walter Kirk said he owns the lot where the plane crashed just south of his home, and he was first on the scene.

“I heard a loud noise like a motor revving,” he said. “I walked toward the door, and I saw a blur and a big flash of fire or something. The sound of it shook my house.”

Kirk, a disabled veteran, said he and several people from Pleasant Valley walked toward the crash to see if there was anyone they could help.

“I walked right up to it, and the nose was plumb into the ground,” he said. “I could feel the heat, and I thought it was going to catch fire. The smoke was rolling across the ground like fog.”

Kirk couldn’t help but notice the plane crashed in a piece of open land surrounded on three sides by homes and on the west side by Pleasant Valley.

“I think he might have tried to miss those apartments and aimed for open ground,” he said.

Nine-year-old Dakota Smith said he was watching a movie with his grandmother at a home just southeast of the crash site.

“Our whole house just shook,” he said. “It felt like it was right behind our house. It scared me. We ran out here and saw a whole bunch of smoke.”

Angela Lord, 41, said the sound was so loud she could hear it at a house she was visiting 10 blocks away.

“The motor was spitting and sputtering; you could tell it was an aircraft,” she said. “When it crashed it almost sounded like two semis hitting at the same time.”

Rick Robertson, 51, who lives in Pleasant Valley, said he could tell by what he heard that something had gone wrong.

“You could hear that he had engine trouble,” he said. “He gunned it when he came over. It was loud.”

Robertson said he is convinced the pilot aimed for the empty lot to save lives on the ground.

“I think he was trying to get away from these buildings,” he said. “They should commend him. I know it won’t save the family the grief, but they should be sure for this pilot’s family that he be commended.”

Mike Anderson, owner of Davis Field Aviation, said standard training teaches pilots who have to make an emergency land to look for the nearest open place.

Reach Keith Purtell at 918-684-2925 or Click Here to Send Email