METHUEN, Mass. — Diane Klein Peyser has spent most of the last seven months living out of a hotel.
But she was finally allowed back into her condo building nearly eight months after a plane crashed into the roof.
“It’s been a horrific experience for all of us in the building,” Peyser said. “People build houses in less time than it took to get this done.”
The crash killed former Newburyport Mayor Al Lavender, who was piloting the homemade aircraft that crashed into the building. Photos from inside show just how unlivable the condos were after the fact.
MORE: Pilot dies after crashing home-built aircraft into Methuen condo building
Betty Gattoni says she, too, was just allowed back into building seven last week.
"It rained in my apartment when the plane hit. So everything in three rooms was pretty wet," she said.
The Prides Crossing complex is just 1,600 feet from the runaway at Lawrence Municipal Airport, where Lavender was trying to land. We called the airport manager this morning, who says they can’t change the flight path that goes over the complex because planes need to take off into the wind.
The airport has long been a source of stress for people at the complex. A plane crashed feet from one of the buildings in 1999 and another crashed in the Merrimack River nearby in 1991.
MORE: NTSB launching probe into fatal Methuen plane crash
The mayor wouldn’t comment on any pushes for change.
The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating what went wrong, and while people who live in the building are glad to be home.
“Sometimes I just sit,” said Peyser. “I get very scared when I’m outside, when I hear them and I see them, because they're still flying very low."
We’re told all of building seven’s residents are back in the building.
PHOTOS: New images show destruction from Methuen plane crash
Cox Media Group
