Beaufort-based pilot ‘critically injured’ after plane nosedives into Colleton County pond
A Beaufort pilot was taken to the hospital in critical condition when her single-engine plane crashed in a Colleton County pond Tuesday morning after taking off from Beaufort.
The woman was the only one inside the four-seat Piper Cherokee Arrow, which took off from Beaufort Executive Airport at 10:54 a.m. Tuesday, according to public online flight data. When the plane started experiencing “mechanical problems” after just a few minutes in the air, the pilot began turning back toward Beaufort.
But the engine soon gave out, sending the 1,500-pound plane hurtling through the treeline and nosediving into a pond in a remote area about 12 miles south of Green Pond, according to Colleton County Fire-Rescue. The crash was witnessed firsthand by the property owner, who ran to the injured woman and called first responders. After emergency personnel and bystanders removed the unconscious pilot from the plane, she was airlifted to the trauma center at Charleston’s Medical University of South Carolina.
The plane was in the air for about 13 minutes before crash-landing at 11:07 a.m., flight records show. Officials at the Beaufort Executive Airport said they did not know the intended destination because pilots of personal aircraft aren’t required to report those details.
An update on the pilot’s condition was not available as of 2 p.m. Tuesday.
The crash landing ripped one of the plane’s wings off the main fuselage, spilling a large amount of fuel into the small pond in the property owner’s backyard. The FAA and the state Department of Health and Environmental Control later assumed the scene to lead cleanup efforts.
This story was originally published January 3, 2024 at 3:11 PM.
