'How lucky we are': South Jersey family in shock after ice crashes through home
It's still unclear where the ice came from, but planes did fly over the immediate area.
MARLTON, New Jersey (WPVI) -- Officials release new information into why a chunk of ice fell into a South Jersey family's home Thursday night.
Kim Paradise, of Marlton, says she was giving her baby medicine and just left the room when ice seemingly fell from the sky.
"We heard something come through. It was like an explosion," said Paradise.
The incident left a giant hole in their kitchen ceiling, and pieces of ice could be seen inside and outside the property on the unit block of Buckingham Road.
"There's ice outside on the grass. There's ice in our backyard, on our roof," said Paradise.
It's still unclear where the ice came from, but planes did fly over the immediate area.
Paradise says she's just thankful no one was hurt.
Aviation analyst, John Nance, told Action News the ice probably fell off a plane.
"This was more than likely a result of a piece of ice from a jetliner that was totally inadvertent, and it is very, very rare," said Nance.
Nance says a little leakage from the inside to the outside of a plane can create a chunk of ice to fall in at around 200 miles per hour.
"For instance, a water tank or the toilet system is going to create a chunk of ice when the aircraft comes down to lower altitudes. It warms up, and the ice falls off the airplane," said Nance.
The FAA is now investigating.
Nance says they'll have to look at the flight path of the planes overhead at a reasonably low altitude and analyze the ice and water left on the floor.
"They could probably tell whether that's pure water or contaminated water, and that would give them a little bit of an indication. But as far as tracing it back to a particular airplane, that's going to be a little bit of forensic work, detective work if you will," added Nance.
While Paradise hopes the hole gets fixed before Christmas, she says she already received her gift, as the mother was standing at the spot of the incident with her baby seconds before the crash.
"How lucky we are. You know my son's a little fighter. He's actually escaped a couple of different times fighting for his life, and I think someone's actually watching over him," said Paradise.
