New Jersey plane skids into warehouse

TETERBORO, N.J. -- A corporate jet hurtled off the end of an airport runway Wednesday while attempting to take off, speeding across a highway and striking two cars before slamming into a warehouse. About 15 people were injured, one critically, but no one was killed, officials said.\nThe injured included at least two people in the cars, officials said.\nEleven people were on the plane; the most seriously injured was the pilot, who suffered a broken leg, said officials, who did not disclose the identities of the passengers or crew.\n"I think everybody at this point is extremely lucky and fortunate," said acting Gov. Richard J. Codey.\nOne witness said a pilot crawled out of the wreckage and told him the crew lost control of the plane.\nIt was headed for Midway Airport in Chicago when the accident happened around 7:20 a.m., said Greg Martin, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington. A National Transportation Safety Board team was dispatched to the site.\nAuthorities initially said there were 14 people on the plane but later said there were 11. They gave no information on what company or group had chartered the jet.\nOne witness said the plane never made it off the ground after "sliding and skidding" down the runway.\n"Usually we see them lift off, but this one just went straight and started scratching the ground. There were sparks shooting out all over the place," said Joseph Massaro, a psychologist who lives nearby.\nChristopher Trucillo, chief of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said rescue crews were unsure whether the inside of the plane was on fire when they arrived, and they used a special hose nozzle to punch through the skin of the aircraft and spray fire-suppressing foam inside.\nVideo from television station helicopters showed wheel tracks, plainly visible in snow, that ran straight off the end of the runway, through a fence and a snow bank and then across six-lane U.S. 46.\nWitness Robert Sosa told WNBC-TV he saw the plane crash into the building.\n"The pilot said he dragged himself out," Sosa said. "He literally crawled out like a baby, and all the other people just walked out normal."\n"He said as they tried to airborne ... they just lost control," Sosa said.\nMartin said communication between the air traffic control and the aircraft was routine. The weather was clear and wind was calm, with temperatures in the low 20s.\nMartin identified the aircraft as a twin-engine Canadair Challenger 600, "a type of small regional business/charter jet" that can carry 12 to 15 passengers.\nThe registered owner is 448 Alliance LLC of Dallas, and is listed among the inventory of aircraft operated by Darby Aviation, of Sheffield, Ala., FAA spokesman Jim Peters said. The jet is also operated by Platinum Jet of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., he said. "That's perfectly legal," Peters said.