Another Package Express plane goes down. This is getting old around CLT.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/10851973.htm?1c
CONCORD - A single-engine plane flying into the Concord Regional Airport crashed less than a mile from the runway Tuesday night, causing minor injuries to its pilot.
"He appears to be very fortunate that he is not deceased," said Annette Privette, the city of Concord's public information officer. "Because the plane is heavily damaged."
Authorities were not releasing the pilot's name until his family had been notified, she said. The 35-year-old was treated at NorthEast Medical Center.
The cause of the crash remains unclear. The Federal Aviation Administration will be investigating the crash, an FAA spokeswoman said, but a final report could take months.
Authorities said the plane had been flying in from Wilmington for Package Express, a delivery company with planes based at the Concord airport. The company is registered with the FAA to fly both passengers and cargo.
A spokesman for Package Express said the pilot was doing fine but declined to comment further about the crash.
Concord authorities first heard about the plane around 6:10 p.m., Privette said, when they received a 911 call from someone who saw a plane flying too low.
Within minutes the Piper aircraft had crashed into a brush-covered area of Vulcan Materials Company's quarry, a sprawling property across Poplar Tent Road from the airport.
Flight instructor Bob Schwartz, who flew into the airport less than an hour after the crash, said he could see blue police lights as his student landed their Cessna Cutlass. He couldn't spot the wreckage amid the trees, though.
It's highly unusual for a pilot to crash -- and even more rare to walk away without major injuries, he said. "The most dangerous part of flying is driving to the airport," he said.
The weather did not appear to be a factor on Tuesday night. Schwartz described the flight conditions as "great, smooth, calm, clear."
The crashed plane is registered to Race City Air LLC of Concord, said FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen. That company shares operations with Package Express, which she said has a fleet of 23 small aircraft registered with the FAA.
Race City Air LLC has operated the Piper that crashed since at least 2003, FAA records show, but the plane was built in 1972.
The last time a plane crashed at the 10-year-old Concord airport was several years ago, Privette said. In June 1999, a crash there killed four people.
Tuesday's crash did not disrupt traffic at the airport, she said, where some 68,000 takeoffs and landings occur each year.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/10851973.htm?1c
CONCORD - A single-engine plane flying into the Concord Regional Airport crashed less than a mile from the runway Tuesday night, causing minor injuries to its pilot.
"He appears to be very fortunate that he is not deceased," said Annette Privette, the city of Concord's public information officer. "Because the plane is heavily damaged."
Authorities were not releasing the pilot's name until his family had been notified, she said. The 35-year-old was treated at NorthEast Medical Center.
The cause of the crash remains unclear. The Federal Aviation Administration will be investigating the crash, an FAA spokeswoman said, but a final report could take months.
Authorities said the plane had been flying in from Wilmington for Package Express, a delivery company with planes based at the Concord airport. The company is registered with the FAA to fly both passengers and cargo.
A spokesman for Package Express said the pilot was doing fine but declined to comment further about the crash.
Concord authorities first heard about the plane around 6:10 p.m., Privette said, when they received a 911 call from someone who saw a plane flying too low.
Within minutes the Piper aircraft had crashed into a brush-covered area of Vulcan Materials Company's quarry, a sprawling property across Poplar Tent Road from the airport.
Flight instructor Bob Schwartz, who flew into the airport less than an hour after the crash, said he could see blue police lights as his student landed their Cessna Cutlass. He couldn't spot the wreckage amid the trees, though.
It's highly unusual for a pilot to crash -- and even more rare to walk away without major injuries, he said. "The most dangerous part of flying is driving to the airport," he said.
The weather did not appear to be a factor on Tuesday night. Schwartz described the flight conditions as "great, smooth, calm, clear."
The crashed plane is registered to Race City Air LLC of Concord, said FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen. That company shares operations with Package Express, which she said has a fleet of 23 small aircraft registered with the FAA.
Race City Air LLC has operated the Piper that crashed since at least 2003, FAA records show, but the plane was built in 1972.
The last time a plane crashed at the 10-year-old Concord airport was several years ago, Privette said. In June 1999, a crash there killed four people.
Tuesday's crash did not disrupt traffic at the airport, she said, where some 68,000 takeoffs and landings occur each year.
