Face of Nation : Three people have died and three others are critically injured after a single-engine aircraft suddenly plummeted while descending in Michigan. The six-passenger Socata TBM 70 plane was heading from Indianapolis to the Capital Region International Airport in Lansing, Michigan when it crashed just yards away from its destination around 9am on Thursday.
‘I know that it was coming in on the approach and that’s when something went wrong,’ airport spokesman Spencer Flynn said. A male pilot, co-pilot and four passengers were aboard the small plane, which appeared to be a leased aircraft out of Indianapolis.
Three people were pronounced dead in the crash and another three were rushed to Sparrow hospital in Lansing in critical condition. Sparrow Hospital spokesperson John Foren confirmed three people came to the hospital but didn’t comment on their current conditions, as per CNN.
The plane was at capacity and included a pilot and co-pilot, said Clinton County Sheriff Larry Jerue. The names of those on board were’t immediately released awaiting next of kin notification.The cause of the crash is under investigation. At the crash site the aircraft appeared to be largely intact and there was no immediate evidence of a fire on board. ‘It appears to be a very hard impact,’ Jerue said.
He added it was cloudy and misty at the time of the crash, but didn’t indicate whether weather played a role in the crash. The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane left Indy South Greenwood Airport at 8am Thursday, according to WRTV-TV. The station reported that the FAA registry lists the plane as being owned by a Greenwood, Indiana, company.
The airport received an emergency alert from the plane, according to airport public safety and operations chief Eric Patrick. He wasn’t sure if the alert came before or after the crash.
Patrick said noncommercial flights file their plans with the FAA and are in contact with the control tower. He said the plane filed plans with the federal agency to land in Lansing, but it wouldn’t have shown up on the schedule since it’s a non-commercial aircraft.
The airport shared a statement saying: ‘We can confirm that there were six people on board the aircraft. Three fatalities have been confirmed by responders on the scene and three people have been transported to Sparrow Hospital.’ At least two ambulances were at the scene Thursday, as well as police from the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office, DeWitt Township and firefighters from the Lansing Fire Department and the airport.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Authority are at the scene. Thursday’s crash marked the deadliest on record in Lansing. In September 1993 a plane crash killed two people and an October 1982 crashed killed on person.
