U.S. Senator Unhurt in Air Crash

The Associated Press reports that New York junior Senator Hillary Clinton, narrowly escaped injury when the aircraft she was piloting was forced to make an emergency landing in Southern New Jersey because of bad weather.

National Transportation Safety Board officials have issued a preliminary determination that pilot error contributed to the accident, and that the Senator was flying a single engine aircraft in IFR (instrument flight rules) conditions while only having obtained a VFR (visual flight rules) rating.

The absence of a post-crash fire was likely due to insufficient fuel on board. No one on the ground was injured.

Photographs below were taken at the scene show the extent of damage to Senator Clinton's aircraft.

She was very lucky not to have been seriously injured.