WATERLOO, Ill. (AP) – Authorities say a 4-year-old boy and his grandparents were rescued after their small plane crashed in southern Illinois.
The fixed-wing, single-engine Piper PA-32 was traveling from Mobile, Alabama, when it went down Tuesday in rural Monroe County on its way to St. Louis Downtown Airport in Cahokia, Illinois.
The plane, piloted by 62-year-old Michael Stodard of Fairhope, Alabama, crashed into the yard of Waterloo police officer Trin Daws. The officer says he and another man broke the plane’s windows with a fire extinguisher and pulled the boy out.
Sheriff’s Maj. Jim Lansing says the boy, his grandmother and his grandfather were talking when they were taken to hospitals. He says they suffered injuries that weren’t life-threatening.
Lansing says the grandmother, 61-year-old Angel Stodard, told authorities a warning light went on, oil was spewing onto the windshield and they couldn’t see.
