Pilot: Bang before plane hit, killed SC beachgoer

[March 30, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- The pilot of a kit-built single-engine plane that struck and killed a jogger on a South Carolina beach told investigators that he heard a loud bang before the engine failed and he was forced to make an emergency landing, according to a preliminary federal report.

When the plane was at 13,000 feet on March 15, the pilot noticed the instrument panel was vibrating and oil began to cover the windshield before the bang, according to the report released Saturday by the National Transportation Safety Board. The engine stopped and pilot Edward I. Smith of Chesapeake, Va., said he tried to land.

Pharmaceutical salesman Robert Gary Jones, 38, of Woodstock, Ga., an Atlanta suburb, was listening to his iPod while jogging on the beach during a business trip to Hilton Head for GlaxoSmithKline. The plane hit him from behind and killed him.

Smith and a passenger walked away from the crash landing.

Aviation expert Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general for the NTSB, had said previously that the plane probably came in almost silently because of the engine failure and with his ear buds in, Jones likely never heard it.

The plane took off from Orlando, Fla., and was en route to Virginia when it started leaking oil.

The pilot reported the problem to air traffic control at Hilton Head and maneuvered the airplane to make an emergency landing on the beach, the report said.

A witness said he watched as the airplane made a series of unusual turns, but did not realize it was in distress, the report said.

As the airplane descended, it flew directly over the witness. It touched down about 200 feet in front of the witness where there were several people and came to rest at the water's edge after hitting Jones.

Lancair IV-P aircraft had lost its propeller, investigators said.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.