There was no fear in Mustapha Mouhacht when he saw a plane sticking out of the trees behind his house.
Instead, Mouhacht said he wanted to help, so he ran across the tarmac to help get two men out of the plane.
The plane appeared to have missed the runway at the Carlisle Airport in the 200 block of Petersburg Road around 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Instead, it came down at a harsh angle against trees next to the runaway.
For the neighbors in the Spring Green Estates mobile home park, they are used to planes coming down, since Meals Drive runs parallel to the runway. Their backyards face the runaway and, in this case, the crash.
Kathy Swope said in 10 years she’s gotten so used to the planes she can now sleep through them, which is why she wasn’t that alarmed when she first heard the crash.
Her dog alerted her that something might be more wrong, so she went outside and saw the plane sticking out of the trees. Mouhacht already was running over to the plane.
“It’s scary to look out there. I would have never thought that,” Swope said. “That’s why I didn’t pay that much attention to it.”
Swope called 911 and relayed what Mouhacht was seeing as he tried to get into the plane. She also heard a dispatch that there was a suspected fuel leak.
Mouhacht said when he got there he found two men who were alert and able to talk to him while he tried to pull open the door.
Swope said the whole time she was shouting to Mouhacht, who was relaying information that she was able to give to dispatchers about the men and their conditions.
Mouhacht said it took almost 15 minutes to get the door open, but once he got permission from one of the men to break the door and get it open, he was able to help the two men out.
Mouhacht’s wife even got involved when she brought him a hammer to use to break into the plane.
Though able to speak, Mouhacht said one was incherent and the other appeared to have a broken leg. Both men were eventually life-flighted from the scene.
Once the men were out of the plane, ambulances and paramedics were able to begin helping them.
“When we were able to take them outside, the people from the ambulance told us to get them far from the airplane because they [could] smell the kerosene,” Mouhacht said.
Mouhacht said even though he knew there was the threat of the plane exploding, he didn’t see smoke so he thought “it’s the opportunity to take them out, just like that."
Fear was the furthest thing from Mouhacht’s mind.
“No I’m not scared, because I like [to] help,” Mouhacht said. Being able to get them out made him happy, he said.
Officials have not made any additional comments on the crash as of 5 p.m. Sunday.
Read more on PennLive:
- Plane crash reported in Cumberland County
- Man found injured on Dauphin County road, police trying to learn what happened