RAISINVILLE TOWNSHIP - A yellow farmhouse stands 250 yards from the field where Comair flight 3272 crashed here yesterday.
"We are right in one of the approach lanes," said Don Helser, a resident of Grape, Mich., who lives adjacent to the crash site. "In this day and age it was just a matter of time. The plane just had a disaster and failed."
The flight crashed in a field with medium-sized trees, and last night the lights of rescue teams were visible among the branches. Residents say the plane probably crashed into the park located behind a local Baptist church.
"If it had been 100 feet further it would have been in the (Raisinville) River," said one local resident.
A street of residential homes and the Raisinville Township Hall are only a short distance from the site, as close as 100 yards. Residents who saw the smoke rising soon after the plane had crashed could see the site by looking out their windows.
"I can walk over there in 10 minutes," said Erin Fleming, a Grape resident.
The snow continued to fall in the nearby small town of Ida, Mich., last night as both state and local police continued to block off area roads. Residents stood in their garages to avoid the cold wind as they stared into the trees.
"In Raisinville Township ... (there are) probably about 5,000 people in the township," said LSA junior Jill Brunt, who lives 20 miles from Ida. "(There are) probably about 10 to 15 homes per square mile out there."
Residents commented that television coverage showed the baseball backstops on the shots showing the plane's debris.
"A lot of (the residents) will find it to be pretty unbelievable," Brunt said.
Several residents who live across from the crash site heard the plane go down moments before they saw smoke.
"I heard the plane go by and it made this sound, there was a big boom," Fleming said. "My house started to shake. Then I saw a whole bunch of smoke coming up."
Fleming's older brother also saw the rising smoke.
"It sounded like a plane buzzed by, riding real low," said David Fleming. "I looked out the bedroom window and saw black smoke coming out of the trees by the river."
"There's no way this could've happened," said Gary Sampson, a Grape resident. "We've been here 20 years and we've never had this experience."
Sampson was in his house when he heard the plane crash.
"I was at the kitchen window, I had just come up from the basement, when I heard the jet motors," Sampson said. "The next thing I heard a big explosion and saw smoke and fire."
Residents could only guess at why the plane had crashed.
"Those commuter planes are known to have problems, they're susceptive to icing," said Helser, who lives in Grape. "I suspect it just iced up."
LSA junior Erik Willer lives near Ida and was surprised to hear of the plane crash. "That was my first concern - was where it landed," Willer said. "As far as major tragedy there's nothing like this that's ever happened."
"I ... don't think Dan Rather has ever said Ida, Michigan, until tonight," Willer said.
"The only positive out of this is seeing the speed with which the emergency response was made," Helser said.
-Daily Staff Reporter Alice Robinson contributed to this report.
JOE WESTRATE/Daily
People at Detroit Metro Airport yesterday hugged each other after learning from airport officials that a relative may have been aboard the Comair flight.