Plainfield Plane Crash Update: Pilot Confirmed Dead, No Injuries Reported in House

PLAINFIELD, IL — A small plane crashed into the middle of a densely populated Plainfield-Joliet subdivision Thursday, killing the pilot and setting a house and its surrounding yard ablaze but somehow causing no injuries on the ground, authorities said.

The house was occupied by a woman and her dog, but both made it out unharmed, according to a report from the Chicago Tribune.

Joliet Fire Department Battalion Chief John Stachelski confirmed that the pilot of the plane has died. It is not believed any more people were in the plane.

Will County Coroner Patrick K. O’Neil said the pilot was pronounced dead on Bedford Drive at Hampton Court in Plainfield at 2:58 p.m. The gender and identity of the pilot is unknown.

“Due to the subject’s condition, positive ID may take several days or weeks,” O’Neil said.

The owner of the plane has been identified as Garry Thomas Bernardo. It's unknown if he was also the pilot at the time of the crash.

Bernardo owns American Jewelry and Gun, a pawn shop in West Palm Beach, Florida, according to a report from the Palm Beach Post.

“An employee at American Jewelry and Guns, near the intersection of North Military Trail and Southern Boulevard, declined to comment. A sign on the front door said the business was closed Friday morning ‘due to a family emergency,’” the report said.

Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board and the Joliet Fire Department were on the scene Friday morning continuing the investigation, according to the Joliet Fire Department.

A spokesperson at the JFD said the crash occurred at 1812 Hampton Court near Chestnut Hill Road and Bedford Drive in the Brighton Lakes subdivision, which has a Plainfield mailing address but is under the jurisdiction of the Joliet Fire and Police Department.

Joliet Fire Department Battalion Chief Jeff Carey said no residents inside the home were injured at the time of the crash.

"They did a search of it, and nobody was inside," Carey said.

"It sounds like it broke up in a few different pieces," Carey said of the plane. "There was different debris from [Route] 59 and Theodore [Street] all the way to house. It sounds like it might have lost a piece and then came down."

Initial reports indicated the plane struck the home, but Stachelski said it appears the house fire was not from the plane striking it.

Joliet Deputy Fire Chief Ray Randich told Patch Friday that fuel from the plane caused the house to start on fire.

"The fuel tanks were ruptured from the force of the crash," Randich said. "When a plane comes down, the first thing that happens is the fuel tanks rupture."

Randich also said it's not believed the house was hit by the plane and that, according to the NTSB, the pilot was the only person in the plane.

Firefighters arrived on the scene shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday and cleared the area at around 2:30 p.m., with only fire investigators left at the crash site.

Earlier Thursday, the Joliet Police Department was asking residents to stay away from the crash site.

"At approximately 11:15, a small plane went down in the area of Theodore and Brighton," Joliet police said on Facebook. "Please seek alternative routes near Rt. 59 and Theodore, and Theodore and River Rd while the crash is investigated."

FAA Spokesman Tony Molinaro said the plane was a small aircraft.

"The FAA has sent a team to the crash site in Plainfield to determine the type of aircraft and to begin an investigation," Molinaro said in an email to Patch. "The FAA will gather information and pass it to the NTSB, which is the agency that will lead the investigation and will determine the probable cause of the accident."

A spokesman for the NTSB told the Chicago Tribune that the plane was a Piper PA-30, which originated from Florida, landed in Tennessee and was headed to Wisconsin. A phone message left on the NTSB's media line was not immediately returned Friday morning.

Plainfield resident Mike Maksimik said there was a storm cloud overhead and it was just starting to rain when the crash occurred.

“The plane appeared to move right out of the storm cloud,” Maksimik wrote on Facebook. “It's a gamble whether it was a lightning strike on the plane that killed (its) engine, but there was a definite crash of thunder before the actual boom from the explosion.”

Maksimik told Patch the site of the crash is 1812 Hampton Court.

"The plane missed my house and the trees (and) went over the pond and crashed," he told Patch.

His brother, Andrew Maksimik, said he was fishing at the time of the crash.

“I thought it was lightning or thunder,” he told Patch, “but it was this airplane flying overhead very low. It sounded like he was trying to restart his motor. It was coming down so fast.”

The plane skimmed the house, hit the ground and exploded, Maksimik said.

“I could feel the heat of it,” he said.

Maksimik said the crash point was on the sidewalk, and that the explosion was probably what ignited the home.

“It wasn’t damaged on the roof or anything. It was probably 20 feet away from the home. The flames were so wide they ignited the plastic siding of the home,” he said.

Maksimik is a Dyer, Indiana, resident but was in the area visiting.

Plainfield is around 38 miles southwest of Chicago.

Check back for updates.

Photo 1 courtesy of Nathan Daniel Alksnis. Photo 2 courtesy of Twitter user @K_Hold97.