Single-engine plane crashes into barn; 2 on board are hospitalized

Witnesses said the pilot struggled to control the plane.
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) -- A single-engine plane that witnesses said was shaking and rattling crashed nose-first into a barn Saturday evening, critically injuring one of the four people on board.
Pilot Donald Belsky, 51, of Womelsdorf, Berks County, was in serious condition Sunday morning. His wife, Diane Belsky, 52, remained in critical condition at Lancaster General Hospital, a nursing supervisor said.
Their son, Matthew Belsky, 21, and a 16-year-old foreign exchange student, whose name was not released because of his age, were treated at the hospital.
The four were returning from a day trip to Cape May, N.J. They had departed from Lancaster Airport around 1 p.m., authorities said.
Inspectors from the Federal Aviation Administration were investigating the scene of the 5:50 p.m. accident next to the Anderson Pretzel Bakery in East Lampeter Township.
Witnesses told the Sunday News of Lancaster they watched the pilot struggle to control the obviously foundering plane; others heard the sound of splintering timber and crushing metal.
Rescuers had to use flashlights to find the wreckage in the darkness.
Resident Timothy William Severe, who went in search of the plane, said he walked around to the back of the barn and in the beam of his flashlight saw a woman lying on the ground. Three males were walking near one of the barn's sliding doors, behind which the plane rested on its nose, with its right wing folded and its left wing reaching up to the roof.
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