By Travis Dorman and Rachel Ohm
Knoxville News-Sentinel
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Two flight instructors were among the three men inside a small plane that crash-landed atop an empty car in the driveway of an East Knoxville home on Tuesday.
Police identified the crew as Gerald Marotta, Michael Spinazzola and Robert Gintz, all from the Knoxville area.
The plane took off from Knoxville Downtown Island Airport, then crashed about 3:18 p.m. in the front yard of 1114 Groner Drive, according to Knoxville Fire Department Capt. D.J. Corcoran.
The men managed to get out of the plane before authorities arrived at the scene in the Morningside neighborhood just east of downtown Knoxville. The men were taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Marotta and Gintz had been released from the hospital, while Spinazzola -- whose wife said on Facebook that he suffered trauma to his face and right eye -- remained there in stable condition, according to UT Med spokeswoman Susan Wyatt.
Jerry Marotta is a “Gold Seal flight instructor,” according to his Facebook page. He is also listed as an approved flight instructor at the Sky Ranch East Tennessee Pilots Club.
Bobby Gintz is also a flight instructor, according to his LinkedIn page. His page says he is FAA certified and is a commercial pilot with 30 years of flying experience and “a passion for all things related to aviation.”
‘It was like somebody picked up the neighborhood and dropped it down again’
When the plane crashed, “It was like somebody picked up the neighborhood and dropped it down again,” said Morningside resident Alyssa Cox-Lewis.
Cox-Lewis, 20, rushed outside with her mother and stepfather to find the plane resting atop a Mazda after slicing limbs and bark from several trees. One man had already made it out of the plane, Cox-Lewis said.
Cox-Lewis and another neighbor, whom she referred to as Mr. Jordan, helped the other two men get out of the plane, then performed first aid in a yard across the street.
Meanwhile, Cox-Lewis’ mother and stepfather -- thinking they smelled smoke and saw gas creeping toward the house at 1114 Groner -- grabbed garden hoses and began spraying. Four people, including a 3-year-old child, were inside the house at the time.
The crew was “pretty bloody -- not as bad as it could have been,” Cox-Lewis said. “They were all talking and were kind of dazed because they just landed a plane in a yard. I imagine that doesn’t happen very often.”
FAA officials were on scene Wednesday as an aircraft salvage company sawed apart the plane’s wreckage and used a crane to place the pieces on trailers.
“At first they were trying to pull the whole thing out and it was like the ‘Benny Hill’ theme was going to play,” Cox-Lewis said, referencing the song popularized by the UK comedian of the same name.
By 5 p.m., the scene was cleared and Groner Drive was reopened.
Federal transportation officials will investigate what caused the 1973 Piper PA-23-250 Aztec to crash. That investigation will likely take “some time,” police said.
Copyright 2017 Knoxville News-Sentinel
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