No One Hurt When Airplane Propeller Crashes Down Into Upstate New York House

HAGAMAN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- An upstate homeowner faced some unexpected repairs Friday, but considered herself lucky she was not home when an airplane propeller crashed into her bedroom ceiling.

As CBS2's Dick Brennan reported, the propeller came tumbling out of the sky in Hagaman in Montgomery County, New York, and crashed right through Maria Cebula's bedroom ceiling.

Neighbor Grace Montenaro was eating lunch outside Thursday afternoon when she saw the propeller come crashing down.

"The propeller just fell off, and we're like, 'Wait, what?' And he's like, 'The propeller just fell off and it's over there.'"

Around 2 p.m. Thursday, a man was flying his small single-engine plane over Green Acres Lane in Hagaman like he normally does.

"And then it comes back this way, and we see it, and it was just like right over that way, and it kind of does like a little like putt-putt noise," Montenaro said. "And I look, and the propeller's just falling out of the sky."

It landed on Cebula's roof, and pierced through her attic, and then the bedroom ceiling.

"I came home and there was a big hole in my roof," Cebula said. "It's not a pleasant, you know, thing to see."

The pilot took off from a private airport about a mile away. New York State Police and the Federal Aviation Administration were investigating what the pilot called a mechanical problem.

Police said the plane made it back to the landing strip, because the pilot had proper altitude.

"He made it back to the airport, glided," Montenaro said. "Give him skill -- that takes skill."

A tarp now covers the gaping hole in Cebula's home, but she is just grateful that she was not home when the sky came falling down.

"The state police that was here -- they were very, very nice. They helped me cover the roof and everything -- I mean, they were really good," Cebula said. "I was glad I wasn't home."

Only two family dogs were in the house at the time of the crash. They were not hurt.