No Deaths In Dramatic Plane Crash

A World War II-era cargo plane sheared off treetops and narrowly missed homes and a major intersection as its crew guided it to a fiery landing on a Fort Lauderdale road. Miraculously, all three people aboard survived.

The DC-3 cargo flight en route to the Bahamas crashed shortly after takeoff Monday near Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

"We're very thankful" that no one was killed in the crash, pilot Charles Riggs said from his hospital bed.

The survivors were "sitting up and talking on their cell phones" hours after the crash, hospital spokeswoman Maria Soldani said. Two people on the ground also were hurt, one seriously.

Co-pilot Charles Wirt told firefighters a fuel line broke and one of the plane's two engines was in flames before the crash, said Stephen McInerny, assistant chief of operations for Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue.

Wirt and passenger Hector Espinoza were in fair condition late Monday. Espinoza told emergency room personnel that "he jumped from the cockpit and landed on the concrete."

Televised images showed firefighters putting out the blaze, the burned-out cockpit and cabin wrecked near parked cars on a residential street. The plane's left wing did the most damage, uprooting trees and flinging broken trunks and branches into vehicles, homes and apartments; several roofs were hit.

Jay Huber was in his backyard feeding his birds when he heard a "terrible engine noise."

The plane narrowly missed a major intersection, but Riggs said they did not see that as they aimed for the street. "It flew perfectly right until we impacted the tree and then the ground," he said.

Some residents were evacuated and the Red Cross offered shelter for the night.

"It looks like damage you would see after a hurricane or a localized tornado," McInerny said.

DC-3s are regarded as cheap, reliable aircraft capable of taking off from short runways. Another Bahamas-bound cargo flight narrowly missed buildings as it crashed in December northeast of Miami. That twin-engine Convair crashed into a lake surrounded by condominiums as the pilot and co-pilot scrambled to safety.

By Lisa Orkin Emmanuel