Pilot, passenger killed in plane crash after trying to avoid a turtle on runway
A small plane crashed at a U.S. airport, killing the pilot and a passenger, after the crew attempted to avoid a turtle on the runway.
According to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board, a Universal Stinson 108 airplane was "destroyed" after a fatal crash on Tuesday, June 3.
In the report, it said that the plane departed runway 2 at the Sugar Valley Airport in Mocksville, North Carolina, and flew around the traffic pattern.
The pilot was alerted by a UNICOM operator about a turtle on the runway. The operator reported that the plane touched down about 1,400 feet down the 2,424-foot runway before the pilot lifted the right main wheel to avoid the animal.
"The UNICOM operator stated that she heard the pilot advance the throttle after he raised the right wheel. The airplane left her point of view, and she was unable to see the airplane after that," the report read.
The plane's wings "began to rock back and forth" before taking off again. A man cutting the grass, who also witnessed the ordeal, said the "airplane disappeared just over the trees on the northeast side of the runway, and then he heard a loud crash and saw smoke."
The crash left the pilot and a passenger dead, with another passenger seriously injured. Their identities were not disclosed.
The NTSB said that the plane crashed in the "heavily forested area about 255 ft northeast of the departure end of runway 2" and sparked a post-impact fire.
"The airplane came to rest on its left side with the left wing folded underneath the fuselage," while the right wing was bent toward the back.
The agency has yet to release what officially caused the crash, but said that the airplane wreckage and engine were kept for further examination. The NTSB and the country's Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the matter.
