Glider Crashes into Roof of Connecticut Home

A one-person glider crashed into the roof of a Connecticut home Tuesday evening — but miraculously no one was seriously hurt.

Officials said a pilot flying a small glider lost power just four miles from the airport, and crashed into a home on Golden Hill Avenue in Danbury.

The aircraft went straight into the attic of the home, and its crumpled tail end could be seen jutting out from the house’s roof.

A mother and her two children were at the home at the time of the crash, and were right underneath the area where the plane entered but weren’t sure what the loud noise was until they heard the pilot’s footsteps upstairs.

“I heard this big boom, crash,” mother Amanda Wirag exclusively told News 4. Wirag was hit by flying debris shortly after the plane hit the house, and rushed to get her daughters, ages 4 and 7, out of the house.

“I had no idea what had actually taken place until I looked back and saw the plane hanging out of our house,” said Wirag, who said she fell to her knees after finally seeing what had just happened.

Neighbors who ran into the house to check on the pilot were surprised to see him walking around in the attic, looking for his glasses, one neighbor told News 4.

The motorized sailplane glider is registered to Thomas Nejame, who friends say has been flying the vessel for about a year and called him one of the best pilots they know.

Amazingly, no one involved in the crash was seriously hurt. The pilot left the hospital Tuesday night after suffering just some cuts and bruises, friends of Nejame said. Wirag said she and her daughters will stay with family until the plane is removed, and that one of her daughters was visibly shaken after the ordeal.

“She started crying and she’s … afraid a plane is going to hit the house when she’s sleeping,” Wirag said.

The home did not catch fire after the crash, fire officials said, mostly because the aircraft is battery-operated and does not use any fuel.

The FAA and the NTSB are investigating the crash.

Photo Credit: NBC 4 New York

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