ST. MARYS — A small plane crashed into a building at the St. Marys Municipal Airport on Sunday, leaving the pilot injured and eyewitnesses, including a First Communion party lunching at an upstairs restaurant, terrified. 

Officials said the pilot — identified only as a male from Ulysses in Potter County — was taking-off on the airport’s runway, just feet away, when he noticed a propeller not working properly. 

The man is said to have stepped outside of the plane to jump-start the propeller, when it suddenly sprang to life. The plane then began moving, sources say, without the pilot inside, causing it to veer off the runway and into the side of a nearby building at a slow speed. 

An unidentified female passenger, reportedly of St. Marys, who was inside the plane at the time, is said to have been uninjured as a result. The pilot is said to have suffered unknown injuries and taken himself to a local hospital for treatment. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records have the plane, a four-seater Cessna 182 aircraft, registered to Hoopes Turf Farm also of Ulysses.

Calls to the business went unanswered on Sunday.

After losing control, the plane’s wing reportedly struck a post supporting a deck on the building’s backside. The impact snapped the wing in half, broke windows on the building and damaged the post which supports a deck belonging to the airport’s West Wind Restaurant, a fire department source explained. 

Officials believe the post kept the plane from causing even further damage by stopping its motion. 

On the deck at the time were a group of young children, participants in a First Communion party held at the restaurant. 

Among them was Hunter Meyer, 8, of Kersey, who recalled hearing a “loud bang,” feeling the deck “wobble” and seeing “smoke.”  

Prior to the crash, Meyer said the pilot was outside of the plane when the propeller suddenly started rotating “accidentally hitting (the man) in the head,” and causing a “bruise.” Meyer said the plane then “spun off and the wings of the plane hit the building.”  

He said “nobody was driving it at the time.” 

The children’s parents, who were eating inside the restaurant just feet away, said a waitress yelled for them to “get out,” saying she could smell fuel leaking from the plane. 

The adults described frantically grabbing their children and running for the exits. 

In all, Crystal Fire Department spokesman Tom Bauer estimated 40 to 50 gallons of fuel spilled from the plane following the crash, prompting a swift emergency response.  

Fire crews could be seen applying a foam retardant afterwards to mitigate the risk of combustion. 

As of roughly 2 p.m., the plane remained where it had struck the building, its wing cleaved nearly in two by the post. The plane was reportedly pulled away from the building, and post, hours later. 

Bauer said the incident was first reported around 12:30 p.m. 

He said a monetary amount for damage to both the building and plane were not known at the time. It was unclear if the entire building, including the restaurant, would remain closed and, if so, for how long. A call to the West Wind restaurant went unanswered at 3 p.m. Sunday. 

It is the second incident at the airport in as many months. In March, a plane flipped over on landing at the airport, the result, officials said, of a stiff cross-wind that forced it into a nearby snowbank.

No injuries were reported in that incident. 

On Sunday, firemen estimated as many as 30 people were inside the restaurant and airport building at the time of the crash. None were reportedly hurt. 

The corner where the plane collided with the building also houses an airport authority office. 

Airport manager Alan McPherson said afterwards it “looks like a bomb went off” inside the office space, adding, “the glass is everywhere,” referring to broken windows caused by the impact. 

McPherson said that while the office was closed Sunday, the runway remained open to air traffic as usual that day. 

And in an apparent stroke of luck, he said the airport authority’s secretary had planned on coming in to the office Sunday, but “got hungry and went home instead,” likely sparing further injury.  

McPherson said the airport office is likely to remain closed as FAA officials conduct their investigation in the coming days. He expects the airport’s runway to remain open to traffic during that time. 

The FAA’s investigation was already under way on Sunday. 

In a preliminary report issued to The Era, officials confirmed the crash occurred when the Cessna 182 aircraft “lurched forward,” striking the airport building. 

The report says “a person was spinning the propeller by hand to start the aircraft when the accident occurred” adding, “two persons were on board” at the time. 

The names of those involved were not released by officials Sunday. 

McPherson placed both the pilot and passenger at around 35-years-of-age and referred to them as boyfriend and girlfriend. 

When reached for comment, city police declined to identify the persons involved, only saying the incident was under investigation. 

It was unclear if criminal charges are being eyed.