Personal plane crashes into marsh near Beaufort-Colleton border, records show
No injuries were reported after a small personal aircraft crashed into a marshy area in northern Beaufort County earlier this week, according to online flight records.
An incident report from the Federal Aviation Administration says the plane “crashed for unknown reasons and became submerged in a marsh” about nine miles northeast of the Beaufort Executive Airport around 4:20 p.m. Wednesday. Only the pilot was inside.
The FAA reported “substantial” damage to the Rutan Long-EZ, a two-seater homebuilt aircraft. Its owner is listed as Christopher Cleaver, a resident of Williamsburg, Virginia.
A map from the Aviation Safety Network marks the crash location slightly south of the Combahee River, which serves as the border between Beaufort and Colleton counties.
The plane departed Chesapeake Regional Airport around 1:45 p.m. that afternoon and flew for just over two-and-a-half hours prior to the crash, records show.
The FAA was listed as an investigating agency in the incident, according to The Post & Courier, who first reported the crash. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources helped respond to the scene of the crash.
