The Greenville County Sheriff's Office and federal investigators have taken over the investigation of a plane crash that was found to have occurred in South Carolina Tuesday evening.
Emergency and rescue crews from Henderson (N.C.) and Greenville counties responded to a 911 call just after 6 p.m. about a plane that had crashed in a wooded area near Corbin Mountain Road and Mountain Summit Road. The plane was reported to have crashed near the North Carolina/South Carolina state line.
“911, what's the address of the emergency?” a Henderson County dispatcher asked in a recording of the 911 call released Wednesday.
“I wish I knew. I have been involved in an airplane crash. I'm fine. I'm in the woods somewhere,” the pilot replied. “There is an emergency locator transmitter which has gone off and is sending out a signal. I just wanted to say that I'm fine. I might have a couple of scratches, but I don't think there are broken bones
.”
The unidentified pilot told emergency communications that he was flying alone on his way to Greenville when he flew into a cloud, which veiled his visual references and forced him to fly by instruments. He said that he tried to escape from the conditions, but was “unsuccessful.”
The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
The pilot said that he escaped from the wreckage of his fixed-wing, single-engine plane, but lost his glasses in the crash. In the darkened woods, he searched for a pair of glasses, his flight bag, which contained a spare pair of glasses, and a GPS unit to give exact coordinates to rescuers.
“After the rescue and confirmation of coordinates, it was determined the crash actually was just inside of South Carolina,” said Maj. Frank Stout of the Henderson County Sheriff's Office. “Information gathered by our agency and rescue members has been turned over to the Greenville County Sheriff's Office, National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration as the investigation continues.”
The pilot was transported to the hospital with minor injuries.
Emily Weaver is a reporter for Halifax Media Group.