GREENVILLE, S.C. (WAND) – A pilot and co-pilot lost their lives when a jet failed to land and crashed at an airport.
WYFF reports the plane couldn’t land on the Greenville Downtown Airport runway at about 1:40 p.m., crashed through a fence and went down a 200-foot safety area with a steep embankment. Investigators say it then landed nose first, killing one of the pilots on impact.
Rescue teams had to break open a window to throttle back the jet and rescue an unconscious pilot and two passengers, who were all left trapped in the wreckage. That pilot died in hospital care.
A hazmat crew had to contain leaking jet fuel as it moved downstream.
Airport officials told the station they haven’t had any issues with other planes on the runways. Airport Director Joe Frasher suggested something “beyond the pilot’s control” might have happened to cause the crash, such as a medical problem.
Frasher also said these deaths are the first to happen at his airport in the last 35 years.
The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to come to the scene Friday. The Federal Aviation Administration is in charge of the investigation late Thursday.
