Small plane crash in eastern Georgia kills 5, injures 2

USPA News - Five people were killed Wednesday when a small plane crashed near the end of a runway at a regional airport in eastern Georgia, local and federal officials said on Thursday. Two other people survived and were taken to an area hospital in an unknown condition.

The accident happened at around 8:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday when the Hawker Beechcraft 390/Premier I aircraft crashed while attempting to land at Thomson-McDuffie County Airport in Thomson, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Augusta. The aircraft was carrying a pilot and six passengers. "The aircraft apparently ran off the runway and into a wooded area at the east end of the airport," said Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The crash site is located just a short distance from a large plant belonging to Milliken & Company. McDuffie County Sheriff Logan Marshall said five people on board the aircraft were killed and two others, including the pilot, were transported to University Hospital McDuffie. Their conditions were not immediately known. Marshall said the Milliken & Co. plant was not damaged and there were no injuries on the ground. Fire Chief Bruce Tanner said it was not yet known what caused Wednesday`s crash but provided a different version of events. "Our understanding is that he was trying to make a landing and was banking to turn around to land at the airport and, as he was banking to turn around, the plane went into a wooded area," he said. Bergen said the aircraft was registered to a Limited Liability Company in Wilmington, Delaware. The cause of the accident will be investigated by both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which launched a go-team to the crash site. An NTSB statement said Senior Aviation Investigator Ralph Hicks will serve as the Investigator-in-Charge for the crash.