An airplane has crashed on Rivanna Farm at Riverview Farm, just off of Proffit Road, CBS 19 reports. It’s said to have had four passengers on it from Chesterfield County. At least one passenger is known to be dead. My wife saw a small airplane flying far too low while driving on Stony Point Road some time around 1:30pm today — it was odd enough to concern her, but she thought it must just be sightseers. Presumably more information will be coming in soon.
10:30pm Update: John Yellig provides details for the Daily Progress. It was a Piper Lance that was cleared to land at CHO, but the pilot reported that he was having engine trouble and, in fact, the engine was turned off. He tried to land in a field at the farm but crashed into the woods. The pilot was killed on impact and the plane caught fire. Amazingly, Pegasus was in the air at the time and witnessed the crash, so they were on the scene immediately. It took half an hour for fire crews to figure out how to get to the crash site. The condition of the three passengers hasn’t been reported.
12/11 Update: The deceased is Richmond oncologist Christopher Desch, the RT-D reports. He was 51 year old, and leaves a wife and son in Henrico. It also seems that the early word of there being three passengers was wrong — Desch was the only occupant. Finally, Autria Godfrey at CBS 19 provides a Pegasus flight nurse’s account of the crash from their perspective.
This is the 2nd time that their link didn’t work for me when I tried it soon after you made your post. I’m sure it will be working later- as before. But I figured twice in a row, same station, was notable.
Go figure.
What? I live on Proffit, near the Rivanna, and I don’t recall any plane crashes today. (Must’ve been a small one.)
I was considering biking down there and seeing it for myself, but… Rivanna Farm is a big place.
Only one person was killed. Looks like the pilot overshot the field after a mayday call. Minor brushfire. Medical helicopter got to him first. Really unfortunate.