Plane crash kills two

SHINE - Aviation authorities are continuing their investigation into a plane crash that killed two people Tuesday afternoon.

The airplane, identified as a Lancair IV-P, crashed into a field about 100 yards behind a row of houses on Oakdale drive. The victims and the aircraft's tail number were not released.

Eric Rouse, an experienced pilot assisting in the investigation, said communications between the aircraft and an air route traffic control center in Washington indicated the plane was flying at 27,000 feet. The pilot reported that ice had built up on the wings, Rouse said.

Emergency personnel from Shine, New Hope, Jason, and Fort Run fire departments responded to the scene at 1:21 p.m. where they found a plane fully engulfed in flames. It took firefighters 15 minutes to extinguish the blaze.

Shine Fire Chief Jeremy Anderson said the small passenger plane crashed at around 1:15 p.m. Thursday. The field where the plane crashed belongs to Triple S Farms and is owned by Ken Smith.

Several people living near the crash site said they heard the plane fly over their homes before it went down.

"It was making a loud whistle noise and then I heard a loud explosion," Robbie Chase said. Chase was inside his Oakdale Drive home when the plane crashed into a nearby field.

Chase got a close view of the wreckage, saying he got within 25 to 30 feet of the aircraft before the heat became too much to handle.

Chase said he saw one of the plane's occupants from where he stood, but the heat and flames prevented him from pulling the body out. He said there was no movement from the victim, however.

Rouse said the plane's female passenger survived the initial plane crash but died during her attempted escape.

Jennifer Anderson, the wife of the Shine fire chief who also lives on Oakdale Drive, said she was home when she heard a "screeching noise and a loud explosion." She said after seeing smoke and fire coming from the wreckage site, she called her husband.

Another neighbor, Douglas Moore, said he also heard a loud explosion when the plane crashed. "There was smoke and fire everywhere," he said.

Authorities had removed the two victim's bodies from the plane wreckage by 4:30 p.m. Jeremy Anderson said investigators haven't determined where the plane took off from or where it was heading.

The state Emergency Management Department, Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Traffic Safety Board also responded to the crash scene.

Anderson said the plane's pilot made a distress call to the FAA before crashing. A section of the plane's wing tip was found about two miles northeast of the crash site at Cedar Grove, an assisted living home. It had fallen off the plane before the crash, Anderson said.

Anderson said the plane burst into flames after it crashed. "It was a fuel fed fire," he said. "The people were trapped inside the plane."

According to officials, there were no additional injuries reported on the ground.

"It's a bad situation and terrible what happened," Greene County Sheriff Lemmie Smith said. Noting the close proximity of the crash site to several homes Smith added, "It could have crashed into a house. I'm just glad no one else got hurt."

A medical examiner from Greenville helped officials examine and remove the two victims from the wreckage.

Chris Lavender can be reached at (252) 559-1078 or clavender@freedomenc.com.