Video shows small plane crashing near houses

    HAMPTON, New Hampshire (WBZ) -- The moment a small plane went down near Hampton Airfield in New Hampshire Tuesday morning, not far from several homes in the area, was captured on video.

It happened at around 10:15 a.m.

The pilot, David Lennon, was the only person onboard and is thankful to be alive. He walked away from the wreckage without a scratch.

"I knew I was going to crash in the last two seconds," Lennon said. "The plane I had for 30 years, and it's ruined but I am fine, and I didn't hurt anybody else."

The plane came down in some trees near houses on Reddington Landing. It was largely intact. A homeowner's surveillance camera captured the moment the plane crashed.

Chris Martin lives across the street. "It's pretty crazy," Martin said. "To see it on camera, to actually see it hitting the trees, I am just glad that he walked away."

Lennon says he's not sure what happened. He was returning to Hampton Airfield after taking some photos from the sky as he often does in his 1946 Luscombe light touring plane.

This was his second attempt to land the plane. As he was about to approach the runway he says his plane lost power.

"It stalled about 50 feet above the ground," Lennon said. "I just didn't have any power to pull out when I was starting to get a little short on the approach and then it just started turning. I pretty much tried to hold it in place, so it didn't flip over, and I couldn't get it to pull out."

His plane went down about 100 yards short of the runway.

"This is a neighborhood with a lot of houses right near the runway, so we got very lucky today that there were no injuries," Hampton Police Chief Alex Reno said.

Lennon says he's been flying for 30 years and has never experienced anything like this. "I appreciate everybody the police and everybody for helping, the firemen were very good, and it could've been a lot worse," Lennon said.

New Hampshire State Police and the FAA were notified about the incident.

Hampton Airfield is privately owned and offers aircraft rental as well as a flight school.