A small plane crash-landed and flipped upside down at Southwest Michigan Regional Airport on Wednesday morning, sending one person to the hospital with head injuries, authorities said.
Firefighters from Benton Harbor and Benton Charter Township sprayed foam on the damaged wings to prevent a fuel fire. The wings had sustained visible damage and contained the plane’s fuel tanks.
An ambulance took one of the occupants to a nearby hospital for treatment of head lacerations. The condition of the second person on board was not immediately disclosed.
As crews worked to secure the crash site, a second plane in the area reported experiencing a minor emergency while airborne, the department said, noting that emergency personnel remained on standby until that plane had touched down safely.
The airport is working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), who will spearhead the investigation, officials confirmed.
The Michigan incident comes amid a troubling period for light aircraft across the country.
Michael Carasto, the owner of Apollo Flight School in Gulfport, Mississippi, which operated the plane, described the crash as an “unbelievable tragedy” and a “huge loss.” He said both pilots were in their mid-20s and were working toward commercial licenses.
The instructor had logged approximately 1,300 flight hours and was “highly qualified,” Carasto said. He noted the flight occurred at night in marginal weather, and explained that flying over water in darkness can disorient pilots due to the lack of a visible horizon.
“Nobody knows what happened at this time,” Carasto said, adding that early evidence suggested the error “was not mechanical.”
The impact was so severe that the aircraft “pretty much disintegrated” upon hitting the water, he said, with only scattered debris recovered so far.
Other recent incidents include a training plane that made an emergency landing on a canal road in Mesa, Arizona, last week after experiencing engine trouble. Both people on board escaped without injury despite the plane striking a residential wall.
Earlier this month, two people died when a plane carrying hurricane relief supplies to Jamaica crashed into a Florida pond, and a stunt pilot was killed during a practice session at a Bradford County airport.
