A small plane made an emergency landing on the busy Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx Saturday afternoon, resulting in minor injuries to three people on board, the New York City Fire Department said.
Two men and one woman were the only passengers of the small aircraft and were hurt when the plane landed near East 233rd Street shortly before 3:22 p.m. They were transported to St. Barnabas Hospital, which is about four miles from the scene, according to the FDNY.
The pilot made the surprise landing because someone on the plane “experienced an onboard emergency,” said Nancy Silvestri, deputy press secretary of the New York City Office of Emergency Management.
The FDNY wrote in a tweet that the injuries were "non-life threatening" and no cars on the highway were affected.
Two of the injured refused treatment and all three were expected to be released Saturday, according to St. Barnabas Hospital.
The plane is registered to Michael Schwartz of South Salem, N.Y., and NBCNewYork.com reported that the Danbury Municipal Airport confirmed that Schwartz was the pilot when it took off.
The trio departed from Danbury, Conn., for a “tour of the Statue of Liberty,” Silvestri said. They were on their way back to Connecticut before the emergency landing, she said.
The four-seat, one-engine 1966 Piper PA sustained minor damage, the Federal Aviation Administration reported to NBC New York. The plane is registered to an owner in South Salem, N.Y, according to aircraft registration records.
Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the FAA, said both the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are investigating the crash to determine the probable cause of the accident.
