(RepublicanNews.org) – Five people tragically died over the weekend when their private jet crashed just before reaching the runway to land at a small airport in Virginia, bursting into flames during an attempted emergency landing.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the plane was a dual-engine IAI Astra 1125, and it crashed around 3 PM while trying to make an emergency landing on Sunday, March 10th, at Ingalls Field Airport in Bath County, roughly 160 miles away from Richmond.
The flight took off from Fort Lauderdale with five people onboard: the pilot, a first officer, and three passengers. The three passengers appear to be a family consisting of a man, a woman, and a child, estimated to be between 5 and 7 years old.
Sgt. Rick Garletts said that law enforcement is working with the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA to identify exactly who the victims are, but that details are being withheld from the public until the identities can be confirmed and the victims’ relatives properly notified first.
Along with state police, Hot Springs Fire Rescue, the Bath County Sheriff’s Office, Clifton Forge Fire and Rescue, and the Falling Springs Fire and Rescue teams all responded to the scene.
Garletts said “everything” was “burnt” at the crash site, including the tail numbers identifying the exact aircraft. State police said the plane was apparently “short on its approach to the runway” and hit nearby trees and a hillside, crashing roughly 300 feet from the Ingalls Field Airport runway. The exact cause of the crash remains unknown, and investigations are still underway.
One investigator, Adam Gerhardt, said no emergency was declared but also confirmed that there were heavy winds from the west that may have been one of the causes of the crash.
According to the owner of the plane’s attorney, the flight’s occupants were on a business trip and reportedly heading to an event in Hot Springs at the Homestead Resort.
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