By Simone Jasper
The Charlotte Observer
REIDVILLE, S.C. — A 60-year-old pilot died after a small plane crashed into a field, trapping him in the wreckage, South Carolina officials said.
Another person on board also had to be pulled from the plane and was left with serious injuries, Deputy Fire Chief Richard Farr of the Reidville Area Fire District told McClatchy News in a phone interview.
Crews were called to the scene just after 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 20. The crash was reported in a field off S.C. Highway 101 in the Greer area, roughly 20 miles west of Spartanburg.
With help from the Trinity Fire Department, firefighters extracted the two people trapped at the crash site. Both were flown to a hospital, and the pilot died one day later, officials said.
The Spartanburg County Coroner’s Office in a news release identified the pilot as Dan William Witt of Lancaster.
Witt was in a single-engine Beechcraft C23 plane when it reportedly took off from the “Chandelle flying community airport.” But soon after, the plane went down “for unknown reasons,” according to the coroner’s office and a preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Video shared with WSPA shows the plane in the sky before it plunged into a field.
The FAA in an emailed statement to McClatchy News said it planned to look into the crash along with the National Transportation Safety Board. As federal officials investigate, the coroner’s office said it will conduct a forensic exam of Witt.
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