“Miraculous”: All 21 Passengers Walk Away From Fiery Private Jet Crash Outside Houston

What can be described as nothing short of miraculous has just happened in a field outside of Houston: a small airliner carry 21 people has crashed, with all 21 escaping the fiery wreckage alive.

The crash which happened late Tuesday morning resulted only in one person being sent to the hospital, despite images of the aftermath showing the MD-87 aircraft – a single aisle airliner that’s the size of a large private jet – engulfed in a fireball.

There were 21 people on the plane when it crashed here in Waller County. No reports of serious injuries. @khouron is LIVE now with updates. @DavidGonzKHOU is on the way to the scene. https://t.co/wxuNi3nWRV pic.twitter.com/v4KgQpABGs

— KHOU 11 News Houston (@KHOU) October 19, 2021

The plane had taken off from Houston Executive Airport, which typically is used by corporate passengers, and is owned by J. Alan Kent, an executive of homebuilding company Flair Builders, according to local news KTRK. It had reportedly just taken off en route to Boston.

According to details in The Hill:

In a statement posted to Facebook, Waller County Judge Trey Duhon confirmed the crash, stating that the aircraft attempted to take off from the airport heading north. However, the official said that the plane did not reach altitude by the end of the runway and ended up crossing a road. 

The aircraft, described in Duhon’s post as a MD-80, finally stopped in a field, where it caught fire. 

Emergency crews continued working into the afternoon to extinguish the massive blaze engulfing the downed aircraft in an empty field. 

The industry magazine Plane and Aviation examined the early details of the crash and called it “miraculous”:

The plane crossed a roadway and came to rest, bursting into flames. Early reports are, and this is hard to believe seeing these photos, that all 21 passengers and crew escaped the wreckage with only one casualty, a back injury, among them. Kudos to the passengers and crew for pulling that off.

The MD-87 is a stretched version of the MD-80, which is a modernized and stretched version of the Douglas DC-9, for years one of the most popular short-haul airliners in the United States.

#BREAKING: Fire crews responding to a major plane crash

#Houston l #TX

A small jet has been involved in a serious crashed just north of the regional airport. officials said. 21 people, including three crew members, were on board, according to police injuries are unknown pic.twitter.com/90YIJkHC4g

— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) October 19, 2021

A press briefing given by the Waller County Sherriff indicated the plane had struck a fence after it rolled off the runway and burst into flames. 

Three crewmembers and all the passengers appear to have escaped even as the plane was on fire.

Indeed given how serious the resulting fire appears to be, it’s almost unbelievable that the worst that came out of it is a single back injury.

And the whole event is indeed “miraculous” considering the above FOX affiliate photograph shows all that was left of the aircraft, and yet everyone escaped with not even serious injuries.