WALKER TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A lone fire truck stood at the entrance of a field where about a mile away emergency crews say a glider plane went down just before four in the afternoon Friday in this rural community in Schuylkill County.
State police and several fire companies were on scene for hours at the crash site off Valley Road just outside Tamaqua.
For those living in the area, they knew something had happened.
“I mentioned to her, I said why is the helicopter keep going around in a circle out here. I keep hearing a helicopter going around and then we heard there was a plane crash later on and then we understand why there was a helicopter going around,” Ed Brown of Walker Township said.
“The only thing I heard was the helicopter circling around over there and I just thought that they might have been looking for something,” Aliya Urso of Walker Township said.
Emergency officials say that was a state police helicopter searching for the plane trying to locate the aircraft before the sun went down.
State police say they found the plane in a heavily wooded area.
The male occupant was found dead, and the coroner was called out
“I saw the Schuylkill county coroner’s wagon go by,” Brown said.
“It upsets me a little bit because you never know how old they could have been or if they were just a kid or something and it really really upsets me because you never know what could happen,” Urso said.
Roughly four hours after the plane crashed, fire trucks were called away and put back into service.
Officials say the Civil Air Patrol is securing the scene until the FAA arrives.
State police continue to investigate the deadly crash.