Video: '4 91 KYW NBC ABC Coverage of John Heinz Plane Crash'

(Thursday, April 4, 1991, 12:10 p.m. EST; during the Merion air disaster) — U.S. Senator John Heinz, a 52-year-old Republican from Pennsylvania, and six other people, including two children, died today in Lower Merion Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia, when his chartered Piper Aerostar propeller-driven plane collided in the air with a Bell 412 helicopter inspecting the plane’s landing gear.

All five people in both aircraft were killed. Burning wreckage fell on the grounds of Merion Elementary School, killing two children playing outside at noon recess.

In addition to the seven fatalities, five more people on the ground were injured.

An investigation discovered the cause of the accident to be poor judgment and pilot error of the crews from both aircraft.