2 Killed In Plane Crash At Statesville Airport
POSTED: 12:25 pm EDT October 27, 2006
UPDATED: 6:19 pm EDT October 27, 2006
STATESVILLE, N.C. -- A small plane crashed at the Statesville Regional Airport, killing two and injuring two others early Friday.
Officials said just after noon the single-engine private plane overshot the runway and crashed into a wooded area several hundred yards away.
Emergency crews arrived within minutes and took the two survivors to the hospital. They said a woman, the pilot's sister, was critically injured but the pilot of the Cirrus SR22, Edward A. Sasso of Troutman, walked away from the crash. Both are at Baptist Hospital.
Airport leaders said the plane flew out of Florida and was scheduled to land at Lake Norman Airpark Airport, but because of low clouds and fog was forced to attempt to land in Statesville.
Lee Cauble said she saw the plane as it approached the runway. She said it looked like the pilot missed the runway and then tried to circle back around for another try.
"We saw he got a little too low, and then as he got too low he clipped the trees, nose of it went down – he went straight down," she said.
Jap Johnson was in the airport terminal and heard the crash. He ran to help.
"It was a total loss," he said. "The motor was over on the side on one wing."
Now investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration will try to decide what went wrong, whether it was mechanical error or pilot error and whether the overcast weather had anything to do with it. Investigators are expected to be on the scene through Saturday.
Cauble said she felt helpless watching the plane crash.
"It was almost like slow motion; you just watched it go and there was nothing you could do," she said.