CLINTON COUNTY, Pa. — South Allegheny Street is closed in both directions in Woodward Township near Lock Haven. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating what led to the plane crash that killed a 17-year-old pilot on Thursday.
"It was about a 20-minute flight; this was a student pilot on, we believe, her second solo flight. She had about 22 hours total time in the airplane and total time as a pilot. Of course, she was a student pilot with no ratings yet, and she was going through training with an instructor," said Ralph Hicks from the National Transportation Safety Board.
The National Transportation Safety Board says the pilot was working toward her private pilot's license. When someone is getting their license they have to get a few flights in with an instructor. The instructor then makes a decision if the pilot is ready to fly by themselves.
Adam Graham had just returned home from a camping trip when he saw the smoke above the trees and smelled fuel burning.
"Hard to hear for this kind of area, you know it's a nice quiet area, and having the Piper airport right there is really nice and seeing the planes come in, but something like that happens, it's too bad," said Adam Graham, Woodward Township.
According to the NTSB, the Cessna 172 was owned by a flying club associated with Lycoming Engines. The plane took off from the Williamsport Regional Airport and headed for Lock Haven. The NTSB says video obtained from the Piper facilities in Lock Haven shows the plane starting to go down behind the tree line near the airport.
"The airplane did burn, probably about 75% of the airplane is burned, it's all confined in the one area, we do have all of the airplanes there one of the first things we check is to make sure no pieces of the airplane came off during the flight, that doesn't seem to be the case so we do have all of the main structural components of the airplane," said Hicks.
The wreckage of the plane has been taken to a specialized aircraft recovery facility in Delaware. That's where the NTSB will continue looking for the cause of the deadly crash.