Plane That Crashed In Greenville Was In For Maintenance Monday Morning

GREENVILLE, S.C.—A small plane crashed short of the runway at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport Monday morning, had been in for maintenance Monday.

Kathleen Bergen says the FAA is on the scene and has begun their investigation. She says the King Air 200 plane was practicing approaches when it crashed. Bergen say one cause they are looking into is the possibility the plane may have run out of fuel.

Bridget Serchak with the NTSB says when the FAA is ready they will call on the NTSB to conduct a limited investigation into the crash of the plane. She says that should happen Tuesday. With a limited investigation, no investigator will go to the scene; they will gather info from the FAA and other sources and make determination. She says the NTSB investigates about 1600 plane crashes a year, most like Monday’s crash, smaller planes.

Serchak says the NTSB is also hampered today by the high amount of incidents that happened this weekend.

A crane and a flatbed truck have arrived at the crash scene to remove the wreckage.

Neal McGrail, Chief Operating Officer of Stevens Aviation, says the plane came into the facility for maintenance. He does not know what type of maintenance.

Two of his employees who are maintenance techs went up with the pilot after the pilot asked the two techs to check out an avionics problem. The techs went up in the plane which McGrail says is standard procedure, “It’s like taking your car to the mechanic and describing the problem,“ says McGrail.

“Sometimes they might take the car out on the road to get a better feel for what’s wrong with it. Obviously, if the technicians had believed there was a problem that could have made the plane unsafe to fly, they would not have taken it up. And it is very likely that whatever caused the crash was not the issue which the pilot wanted them to look at.“ McGrail says.

GSP spokesperson Rosilyn Weston says there are three injuries.

The hospital tells McGrail the 2 Stevens employees have non-life-threatening injuries.

Ed Wilk – fair condition (12 years with Stevens)

Derrick Holliday – serious but stable (9 years with Stevens)

McGrail says he does not have the authority to release the name of the third person in the crash. His condition is also serious but stable.

McGrail will not say who owns the plane, but does tell WSPA News Channel 7 that the pilot is employed by the plane’s owner.

The Associated Press reports the plane is registered to MDTR Holdings LLC in Virginia Beach, Va. FlightAware.com shows that the plane flew from Norfolk, Va., to Greenville Sunday night.

Highway 14 is now reopened. It was closed near the crash site.

Rosilyn Weston, spokesperson for GSP International, says this is a private plane. The crash was reported at 10:11 a.m. Monday when the plane went down just past Highway 14. GSP International was closed to both incoming and departing flights, but has reopened at just before 11:00 a.m.

MedTrans and Regional One medical helicopters transported the injured to local hospitals for treatment.