Private plane crashes at P.G.I.A.; injuries minor
First the good news: It wasn’t a big commercial jetliner and no one was seriously hurt. But the bad news is that a serious plane crash occurred at the P.G.I.A. just before ten this morning.
The Air Traffic Control Tower had just given clearance for the twin engine Beechcraft to land at the Philip Goldson International Airport, but as the plane came in to touch down on the runway, its landing gear failed to engage. Emilio Perez, who was watching from the airport’s gallery, says he could not believe what happened next.
Jacqueline Godwin
“When you saw the small plane getting ready to land on the runway, did you see the wheels come out?”
Emilio Perez, Eyewitness
“No, it never come out, it never come out. That’s way he scrape (slid) on the runway.”
Perez says it appeared that the pilot tried to take off again, but after struggling to stay airborne, the plane suddenly dropped, flipped over, and then crashed into some bushes about two hundred feet north of the runway.
Emilio Perez
“The pilot loose control and it gone pan the side then it turn and drop.”
Jacqueline Godwin
“Why you believe the pilot lost control?”
Emilio Perez
“Because I see the plane di go and turn and I tell my next friend he lose control because he mi want raise it, but he can’t.”
Miraculously, the pilot, Leonidas Martinez, co-pilot Carlos Alfredo Suvillage, and passengers Hilda Lucilla Lacayo and Rafael Sahli, walked away from the wreck with only minor injuries.
After being taken by ambulance to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, the four were released.
According to pilot Martinez it was mechanical problems that brought his plane down.
Leonidas Martinez, Pilot
“When we were planning to land, we had about four miles of visibility. We could see the runway below us. As I was about to land, I engaged the landing gear. It said on my instrument that they were down but they were not. When we were on the runway, the control tower informed us to ascend because the landing gear was not down. I tried to take off, but the propellers had already touched the runway that caused us to flip. Thank God nothing happen to us. My co-pilot and passengers were not injured and I received only a small cut above my right eye.”
According to Civil Aviation Authority Operations officer Nigel Carter, they are investigating the incident that they have classified as a serious accident.
Nigel Carter, Ops Officer, Civil Aviation Authority
“Presently the aircraft is secured. We will follow through with our investigation. If we need to look at the aircraft again we will do so, and that is where we are. Presently we are just a looking at some damage to the aircraft, which is part of the wing tip.”
The U.S. registered private plane had departed from El Salvador for Belize. According to pilot Martinez, they had come to the country for a vacation.
As a result of the crash, the P.G.I.A. was closed to all air traffic for forty-five minutes.
