We’ve learned more about the small airplane that flipped upside down upon attempting to land at the Southwest Michigan Regional Airport in Benton Harbor on Wednesday morning.
Speaking in the afternoon, Airport Director Christopher Beckman said the plane out of Canada had two people on board when the incident occurred at 9:30 a.m.
“They landed in Michigan on Monday, Port Huron, and left the next day, and recently landed in Battle Creek, and then Dowagiac,” Beckman said. “The spot before here was the Dowagiac airport, so they were coming to us from Dowagiac, and then they decided that, well, during flight, they experienced some malfunctions, and that’s why they tried to land here.”
A wind gust of 44 knots was recorded on Wednesday morning at the airport, but Beckman said he couldn’t say for sure if the high winds throughout the day caused the incident.
“The right wing struck the runway and that would possibly be what involved in this incident. I don’t know what that caused, anything like that. But that’s when we came to find them, flipped upside down, which was noted by one of the pilots here on the ground. They notified us via radio that they saw the aircraft flipped upside down.”
Beckman said the Southwest Michigan Regional Airport is collaborating with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, who will lead the investigation into the cause of the incident.
The plane’s two occupants suffered minor injuries. One was taken to the hospital for treatment of head lacerations, and both had been released by Wednesday afternoon.
Beckman thanked the Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety, the Benton Township Fire Department, the St. Joseph Department of Public Safety, and Medic 1, who all responded to the scene, saying it took them just minutes to arrive.
The incident shut down the main runway at the airport for about two hours.
