Two people were killed when a small plane crashed near a North Carolina airport, prompting an intensive overnight search of a nearby state park and temporarily halting arrivals and departures of commercial flights, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol said on Oct. 21.
Sgt. Michael Baker reported the deaths at a news briefing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, but he didn’t release the identities of the victims.
Airport officials issued a statement saying search crews found the missing plane around 10 a.m. Monday near a trail at William B. Umstead State Park. The statement offered no details about who may have been aboard the plane.
The Federal Aviation Administration said radar lost track of the Piper PA32 at about 7:25 p.m. Sunday as it approached Runway 32, the smallest of three landing strips and perpendicular to what the airport considers its primary runway. The FAA website said the single-engine plane typically has around six seats.
Below is an update on Airport Operations. pic.twitter.com/AuGncrVHEC
— RDU Int’l Airport (@RDUAirport) October 21, 2019
Rescuers from at least a dozen state and local agencies spent the night searching in and around the park, a 5,600-acre (2,260-hectare) wooded expanse bounded by an interstate, the airport and a state highway. The park remained closed Monday, and people were asked to avoid the area while authorities secured the crash site.
The National Transportation Safety Board will be leading the investigation of what caused the plane’s trouble, according to the FAA.
Airport spokesman Crystal Feldman said Sunday night that the dense woods and darkness hindered initial phases of the search that included helicopters scanning for signs of heat coming from the wreck.
Firefighters and other rescuers were shown on news footage heading into the woods with flashlights late Sunday and early Monday.
On Monday morning, authorities began launching drones from an airport runway to fly over the state park to assist in the search.
Air operations were halted for about 20 minutes Sunday night as firefighting and rescue units rushed to the wooded area. That caused a number of commercial flights into the airport to be delayed or diverted until regular operations resumed.
US Coast Guard Suspends Search for Pilot in Gulf of Mexico
The U.S. Coast Guard has called off a search in the Gulf of Mexico for a pilot who flew a small aircraft hundreds of miles beyond its intended destination in Louisiana.
The search for 63-year-old Steven Stone Schumacher was suspended on Oct. 20.
Officials said his family reported him missing on Wednesday night after he failed to arrive in Gonzales, Louisiana, from Missouri.
A Coast Guard statement released Sunday said U.S. crews and the Mexican Navy spent about 21 hours searching for his Piper Aztec. The agency previously stated the plane’s last known position was about 440 miles off Louisiana’s coast flying about 50 feet above water.
Schumacher worked as a surgeon in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and graduated from LSU.
Officials haven’t said what they think happened.
By Jonathan Drew
