2 injured, including off-duty cop, after small plane crashes in Northeast Philly park

Two people were injured — including an off-duty Philadelphia police officer who was training as a pilot — after a small plane crashed Wednesday afternoon in a park in the Torresdale section of Northeast Philadelphia, police said.

The plane came down just after 3:40 p.m. inside Fluehr Park on the 4800 block of Grant Avenue, police said.

According to initial police information, the plane lost power midflight and the pilot attempted a landing in Fluehr Park and hit a tree.

Photographs from the scene confirm that the front of the plane apparently struck a small tree and that a wing was broken.

The plane was being used by Fly Legacy Aviation, a flight training business operating out of Northeast Philadelphia Airport.

FlightAware, a plane tracking website, reported that the plane took off at 3:01 p.m. and flew mainly north of the city before returning over the Delaware River and prematurely going down after 40 minutes.

When police arrived at the scene, a person was reported on the ground outside the plane and a man was initially reported stuck inside the plane, but he was freed, police said.

Fuel also was reported to be leaking from the plane.

The pilot and the passenger were initially reported to be conscious, police said.

A Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson confirmed that an off-duty Philadelphia officer was on the plane as a pilot trainee.

The Philadelphia Fire Department later posted on social media that the two people were transported to a hospital in “serious condition.”

The fire department said the incident was placed under control at 4:06 p.m. and directed further questions about the crash to the flight school.

Alex Souponetsky, general manager of Fly Legacy Aviation, said in an emailed statement Wednesday evening that the plane was a Piper Pilot 100i training aircraft and that it lost engine power over the Delaware River.

“I am relieved to report that the instructor and student pilot aboard the plane were able to complete an emergency landing in a nearby park, and although they succeeded in preventing any fatalities or injuries to others, they were unable to avoid striking a tree during their landing,” Souponetsky said.

The cause of the power loss was under investigation and the flight school was in contact with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, Souponetsky said.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the aircraft involved.