RDU plane crash: Aircraft 'bounced' during landing attempt, pilot expected to recover

The Federal Aviation Administration's preliminary report said the "aircraft attempted to land, bounced and began a missed approach and crashed."

The pilot and a UNC Health physician were the only two people on board the plane, which crashed around 10:10 a.m. on a secondary runway near Terminal 1.

A spokesperson for UNC Health said Dr. Paul Chelminski, an internal medicine physician, was on the flight returning from a lecture in Wilmington and is in "good condition." Chelminski was released from UNC Hospitals later Wednesday afternoon.

The pilot, Art Johnson, was taken to Duke University Hospital in Durham and was listed in fair condition, according to UNC Health. The FAA's preliminary report said the pilot's injuries are serious, but UNC Health said they are "optimistic he will make a full recovery."

Wake EMS told a WRAL News crew both patients were talking, alert and in "decent condition" immediately following the crash.

UNC Air Operations, which operates the plane, has temporarily paused flights due to the crash.

Crouse explained his theory on why the plane bounced off the runway and ultimately crashed.

"Frequently it is a more rapid rate of descent than the pilot would have anticipated," Crouse said. "You could have an forecast downdraft, you could have some weather phenomenon that helped the pilot to get in this situation. But unfortunately, most frequently, it's a pilot mistake that causes this."

"You’ve probably been on an airliner where you’ve landed pretty firmly," Crouse explained.

When a bounce occurs on a smaller aircraft; however, a disaster can occur.

"Generally speaking, if you bounced, and by that I mean, touch the ground and become airborne again, something is going wrong," Crouse said.

Sky 5 was able to fly above the crash site on Wednesday after a ground stop was lifted at RDU. The ground was littered with debris, and the plane sustained major front-end and side damage.

The plane wreckage has since been moved to a regional facility, where it will be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

According to an RDU spokesperson, the airport's primary runway, 5L-23R, reopened to departing and arriving flights soon after the crash.

Few details were provided about the crash, but radio traffic indicates one of the victims was trapped: "Small plane down with two injuries, one entrapped... extrication underway."

The NTSB and FAA are investigating the cause of the crash. The NTSB gathered witness statements that indicated the plane may have crashed after a missed approach.

The plane, a single-engine Socata TBM-700, is owned by Medical Air Inc. and operated by UNC Air Operations. FlightAware showed the plane took off from Wilmington around 9:30 a.m.

Before the ground stop was lifted, the airfield was closed for flight operations, which meant no flights are coming in or out of RDU. All inbound flights to RDU were being held at their origin until 11:30 a.m., according to Flightaware.com.

One airport employee told WRAL News he has "never ever" seen anything like this. The worker said he knew something was wrong when multiple incoming flights were delayed due to the crash.

"The routine schedule was off," said the employee, who identified himself as Curt. "I looked at my phone because I have an app that tells me when flights are coming in and it said that it was delayed. Then I come to find out this is why it was delayed."

North Carolina State University's track and field team, which was headed to Philadelphia, was among hundreds of RDU travelers impacted by the delays on Wednesday afternoon.

While enduring long waits at the airport, many people's moods changed when they learned the cause of the delays was a crash.

"It's horrible," said Madelyn Jadic, an NC State student who was headed to Peru for a wedding. "I didn't even think about it impacting my flight ... I was scared that people were hurt."

Landguth said first responders' priority in plane crashes is to rescue those inside.

"Our primary focus when that accident occurred was the two people who were sitting in that aircraft ... to make sure we can get them into a safe condition as fast as we possibly can," Landguth said. "Secondarily is then trying to figure out how we recover and get our operations back up and running."