Wheeling Plane Crash Narrowly Avoids Apartment Complex

A Wheeling plane crash narrowly averted tragedy when a pilot’s quick actions saved his plane from striking a row of apartments.

The plane was trying to land at Chicago Executive Airport when the aircraft started to go down near Wolf Road, northwest of the airfield and only yards away from the Foxboro Apartment complex.

The pilot was able to angle the plane from the apartments and instead ended up landing upright, tangled with a tree. No one on the ground was hurt in the Wheeling plane crash, and the pilot was able to walk away as well.

It did create a few scary moments for people watching on the ground however.

“Normally those planes come over the lake, and come down, but we saw it wasn’t going to come down where it was supposed to,” said 11-year-old Jakaila Johnson. “We ran inside the house and screamed, ‘A plane crashed!’ . . . We thought it might blow up.”

AIrport Manager Dennis Rouleau said the pilot reported a problem to the tower just before the crash. He said the pilot was able to avert disaster.

“To develop a problem and then put it down on the road instead — it could have been a lot worse,” Rouleau said. “It could have been in some buildings, but he was able to put it down on the street to avoid injuries to himself and people on the ground.”

The pilot had pinpoint precision with his landing, said Nick Helmer, mayor of Prospect Heights. The plane ended up resting between two apartment buildings.

“It would have been a disaster,” Helmer said. “Actually what happened was a Godsend. I think we’re very fortunate to have an airplane accident that was a walkaway situation. It’s very fortunate that nobody was hurt — either on the ground or those in the air.”

After the Wheeling plane crash, the pilot was alert and talking but later taken to a hospital.