Debris from Southwest plane’s exploded engine lands in Berks County

(Undated) — A Berks County resident in Jefferson Township was pulling out of his driveway on Wednesday when an unusual object on his neighbor’s property caught his eye.

“I just noticed that something don’t belong, like a little baby swimming pool,” said Martin Moyer, who lives about a mile down the street from Koziar’s Christmas Village in Bernville. “That ain’t a swimming pool.”

It was nothing of the sort. Instead, there were two large pieces – roughly 6 feet in length and 2 feet tall – of a Boeing 737 airplane engine that exploded on Tuesday. Southwest Airlines Flight 1380, which was carrying 149 people from New York to Dallas, was forced to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

One person was killed, a New Mexico banking executive, when she was partially sucked through a window that had been smashed by debris from the engine explosion. Fellow passengers pulled her back in to the plane and began life-saving measures, but she later died, according to media reports.

A day later, debris from the incident in the sky was still being collected about 20 miles east of Lebanon. So far, the Lebanon Daily News can confirm pieces of the engine were found in Bernville, Jefferson, North Heidelberg and Penn townships.

Federal investigators and representatives of the National Transportation Safety Board, the FBI, state and local police, and the state game commission are working the area. Most of the debris ranged from small pieces, to skateboard-sized or three-to-four feet in length.

One of the first reported discoveries was made by a member of the golf course maintenance crew at Heidelberg Country Club in Bernville.

“We had a guy who works here, he found a piece, brought it in, didn’t know what it was,” said Tim Leban, assistant superintendent at Heidelberg Country Club. “We find pieces of our equipment occasionally from rough use. He brought it in and couldn’t identify it, and the boss couldn’t either, so we just threw it in our scrap metal.

“Eventually on the news this morning I heard that there were parts of the plane that were in Bernville, so I thought it could be part of that. It was aluminum, and that was kind of the defining thing that we knew it was actually a part, so we called the (Federal Aviation Administration).”

Fortunately, poor weather has kept most folks away from the golf course lately.

By noon on Wednesday, investigators were combing a large, open field along Route 183 in Penn Township, just a short drive away from the club and one of four confirmed sites. Vehicles made several stops, picking engine pieces off the ground, carefully wrapping the debris, then removing it from the premises.

Members of the media were prohibited from taking photographs of the findings, and officials involved with the investigation declined comment.

Trooper David Beohm with the state police of Reading arrived later and delivered a statement, citing the cooperation between different agencies, and encouraging anybody to come forward if any additional debris is found.

“This is very rural here, and if somebody goes out in a field or wherever and finds anything they think might be related to this, they can call the FBI office in Allentown or they could actually call 911 and the police will come out,” said Boehm. “There could be more stuff out there. We don’t know.”

There are currently no reports of injuries on the ground due to debris falling from the sky.

“It could’ve been really bad if the absolute worst would’ve happened here,” said Boehm. “It’s terrible to begin with. It could’ve been much worse.”

Residents were abuzz with the activity in what is ordinarily a quiet region. When asked whether any debris had been spotted along Davis Bridge Road in Bernville, a woman walking her dog responded, “Not since this morning.”

Moyer planned to inspect his own property for debris once all the excitement was over at his neighbor’s. By the time the Lebanon Daily News arrived on the scene, the FBI was already photographing the evidence while some dozen onlookers gathered around.

Despite all the activity, nobody seemed to be aware of debris was falling from the sky when it was happening. At least, nobody interviewed had heard anything, and even if they had, the noise could’ve been mistaken for a firearm or explosive in the rural area.

“They said this would’ve been a really loud bang,” said Bernville Police Chief Brian Thumm. “I’m like, ‘We’ve had quarter sticks of dynamite go off up here.’ It’s nothing unusual.”

This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The Lebanon Daily News.