News

Actions

Plane crashes into ditch during ground maneuvers at Suffolk landing strip

Posted at 7:29 PM, Sep 08, 2012
and last updated 2012-09-08 19:29:03-04

Suffolk, Va. – Suffolk Police and Fire & Rescue responded to the scene of an airplane crash at a rural grass landing strip in the 900 block of Hare Road Saturday afternoon.

A call was received by dispatch at 5:18 p.m. advising of the crash of a twin-engine plane which was blocking the roadway, with the front of the plane wedged in a ditch, and the wing narrowly missing a telephone pole. 

Upon arrival of emergency crews it was found that the plane, a 1943 twin-engine Beech 18/C-45, had never actually been airborne, but had been undergoing test maneuvers on its brakes at the landing strip when they failed, causing the plane to veer across the road into the ditch.

A person with a tractor was trying to assist the owner of the plane, John Mosby Williams of Bonita Springs, Florida, when rescue crews arrived.

Mr. Williams was not injured during the crash.