West Deer Victims Expected To Recover

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A local father is breathing a bit easier after his 13-year-old son survived a small plane crash in West Deer.

Another 13-year-old boy, a science teacher and the pilot were also hurt.

"He said that they were going down the runway, he didn't think they were getting enough speed up to take off and he said he noticed the pilot getting nervous," Richard Callender, father of one of the 13-year-old victims, said.

The flight was part of an instruction flying program at Huston Middle School in Lower Burrell.

"It is a nice program – I'm not sure that my son will think that after today," Callender said.

Callender's son had some cuts and scrapes. He, another student and his science teacher were taken to Allegheny General Hospital for treatment.

"It's easy to overwhelm a single system with even a relatively small number of injured patients because they need so much care so quickly," Dr. Alan Philp, an ER doctor at AGH, said.

The pilot was taken to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital.

"All of these [patients] have injuries that we expect to fully recover from, although I would anticipate that at least one will be hospitalized for several days and will need some surgical intervention," Dr. Philp added.

"I just hope everybody else is fine," Callender said. His son is being kept overnight for observation.

Dr. Philp was unable to comment specifically on each patient because of privacy laws. However, he said some patients could potentially go home today.

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