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American Morning
Plane Went Down in Groton, Connecticut
Aired August 04, 2003 - 08:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The word that we're getting from Groton, Connecticut, that a small jet crashed there, near the airport. We don't know whether or not the plane was actually trying to land there. But we do know the aircraft had departed Farmingdale, Long Island en route to Groton.
Let's check in right now with Melissa Lowry who was an eyewitness there in Groton.
Melissa, what can you tell us about what you saw there this morning?
MELISSA LOWRY, WITNESS: Well, actually it started with what I heard. I heard the sound of a jet engine, very loud, and I thought very low. And then we heard a boom, and we saw the smoke, so we ran outside, and I live right on the river, so we ran down to the little Paconack (ph) River, down to our dock, and we saw flames shooting up from houses across the river, and very high flames, and we saw a large pile of floating debris, I guess you would call it, on fire in the river. Boats on the opposite side on my side of the river were on fire, and then the fire trucks came.
HARRIS: What was -- Melissa, was this anywhere like adjacent to a neighborhood? Or was this strictly right up against the runway there at the airport?
LOWRY: Oh, no the runway is about maybe a quarter of a mile away -- maybe a tenth of a mile away from where the houses were. They are on the approach, but usually the planes come right down the river.
HARRIS: Could you see how big the jet was before it went down? Do you know whether or not it was a small private jet or whether it was a large sized jet?
LOWRY: No. I only saw the aftereffects.
HARRIS: How about any homes -- were there any homes that were at any point in any danger? Were they close by the water or close by the crash site?
LOWRY: There are many homes on the other side of the river, and they probably, all the adjacent homes on the other side of the river were in danger. The flames were huge. Initially it looked like two houses went up. Now we're hearing reports that it might have been three. The firemen are still over there, and the firemen are on this side of the river also, putting out fires on docks from the floating debris. HARRIS: Melissa Lowry, thank you very much for that report. Glad to know that you're OK. We're sure hoping things turn out better for those folks on the ground. We also understand according to reports from the FAA that the two people who were onboard that jet did die in that crash.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 4, 2003 - 08:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The word that we're getting from Groton, Connecticut, that a small jet crashed there, near the airport. We don't know whether or not the plane was actually trying to land there. But we do know the aircraft had departed Farmingdale, Long Island en route to Groton.
Let's check in right now with Melissa Lowry who was an eyewitness there in Groton.
Melissa, what can you tell us about what you saw there this morning?
MELISSA LOWRY, WITNESS: Well, actually it started with what I heard. I heard the sound of a jet engine, very loud, and I thought very low. And then we heard a boom, and we saw the smoke, so we ran outside, and I live right on the river, so we ran down to the little Paconack (ph) River, down to our dock, and we saw flames shooting up from houses across the river, and very high flames, and we saw a large pile of floating debris, I guess you would call it, on fire in the river. Boats on the opposite side on my side of the river were on fire, and then the fire trucks came.
HARRIS: What was -- Melissa, was this anywhere like adjacent to a neighborhood? Or was this strictly right up against the runway there at the airport?
LOWRY: Oh, no the runway is about maybe a quarter of a mile away -- maybe a tenth of a mile away from where the houses were. They are on the approach, but usually the planes come right down the river.
HARRIS: Could you see how big the jet was before it went down? Do you know whether or not it was a small private jet or whether it was a large sized jet?
LOWRY: No. I only saw the aftereffects.
HARRIS: How about any homes -- were there any homes that were at any point in any danger? Were they close by the water or close by the crash site?
LOWRY: There are many homes on the other side of the river, and they probably, all the adjacent homes on the other side of the river were in danger. The flames were huge. Initially it looked like two houses went up. Now we're hearing reports that it might have been three. The firemen are still over there, and the firemen are on this side of the river also, putting out fires on docks from the floating debris. HARRIS: Melissa Lowry, thank you very much for that report. Glad to know that you're OK. We're sure hoping things turn out better for those folks on the ground. We also understand according to reports from the FAA that the two people who were onboard that jet did die in that crash.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
