ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – A Piper plane that crash-landed on the roof of a house in St. Simons Island, Georgia, last month suffered "catastrophic engine failure," according to a National Transportation and Safety Board report released this week.
Investigators found that one of the plane's cylinders had "blown off."
The Piper PA-32 was flying from Jacksonville to South Carolina and had taken off from Jax Executive at Craig Airport.
The pilot and passenger walked away with minor injuries and were released from the hospital Dec. 15, the same day as the crash.
"We've got lacerations, but both of them are speaking and walking," a caller told 911 just before 11 a.m.
Experts said the two men aboard suffered only minor injuries due to a combination of great piloting and good luck.
A father and son who happened to be a construction worker and a paramedic were nearby. They grabbed a ladder and helped the two men get down.
"Dad said,'A plane just went down over there,' and he jumped in his truck and came over there and I was right behind him," James Burnsed said. "Because he could see one on the roof and another one trying to get out and he was right back and we got up there and make sure they were OK and got them down the other side of the house and they were good to go. They were a little beat up."
Neighbor Allie Cox heard a sound and first thought a tree had fallen. When she went outside, she saw the plane on the roof of a house about 40 feet away. She said the older woman who lived in the home was coming out with her two dogs.
Cox said firefighters used a ladder to get the two men aboard the plane off the roof, but they were not seriously injured.
The plane, which is registered to KDK Associates in Jacksonville, remained on the roof with electrical and fuel systems turned off until a crane could lift the wreckage down. Glynn County police said the plane had left Jacksonville Executive at Craig Airport Tuesday morning. The names of the pilot and passenger were not released.
Police and firefighters responded to the scene, along with emergency management and the Red Cross, which was helping the elderly couple who lives in the home.
The Glynn County Airport Commission said the Federal Aviation Administration was also headed to the scene.