MUNCIE, Ind. — Federal investigators are trying to find the cause of a plane crash in Muncie that hurt three people, including two people who were out for a walk.
The incident happened just before 10:30 a.m. Monday, April 1, near the Delaware County Regional Airport near Muncie.
Emergency officials say the pilot never sent out any call that he was in trouble right before he crashed. When they got to the crash site, they had to cut the him out of the wreckage.
At a news conference Monday afternoon at the airport, emergency officials said the pilot’s condition was serious.
Two people on the ground, who were walking Cardinal Greenway path, were also hurt. One of them is also in serious condition. All three were taken to local hospitals.
In an update April 3, the Delaware County Sheriff Tony Skinner told 13News the pilot remained in an Indianapolis hospital, while a woman who was walking had been released from a hospital April 1 and a man who had been walking remained in the hospital.
According to emergency crews, the people on the ground were on a walking trail near the airport, when the plane, a four-seater Piper Cherokee, crashed in a field next to the trail, just west of the airport.
According to the Delaware County sheriff, the people on the ground were burned by fire caused by the impact of the crash after the plane broke apart, when it hit two lines of trees on either side of the walking trail.
Construction crews doing electrical work at the airport put out a small fire on the ground from the plane’s wreckage, even before emergency crews got to the crash site.
It’s not clear why the plane crashed, but airport officials say the pilot took off in Bloomington and was trying to land at the airport in Muncie.
Emergency crews say there was no call for help before the plane went down.
“There was no communication of an emergency from the aircraft. The aircraft was en route from Bloomington and was landing on runway 14. At some point, he decided he was going to circle back and basically missed the approach and circled back and this is what happened,” said Delaware County Regional Airport manager Tim Baty.
Emergency crews say two of the people injured could be transferred to Indianapolis for further care.
The NTSB and FAA will take wreckage back to Indianapolis to examine. Emergency officials say it could be months before the cause of the crash is known.
According to Baty, it’s been 20 years since there’s been a plane crash in Delaware County with serious injuries.
