Officials: Plane bounced, flipped during landing at airport

ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. — Rowan County officials responded to a plane crash Wednesday at the Rowan County airport, off South Main Street in Salisbury.

Officials said the plane made a hard landing and flipped over. From Chopper 9 the plane can be seen flipped over onto its roof with its wheels up in the air.

The plane ended up being towed to one of the hangers. The pilot, despite the wreck, was able to climb out of the wreckage and didn't go to the hospital.

From a couple hundred yards away, it was clear this is not how Robert Poole wanted to land his plane at the Rowan County airport.

Eyewitness News could see him off in the distance walking around the crash site.

Student pilot Joe Gibbons was taking a flying lesson and getting ready to land when the crash happened around 11:30 a.m.

"As we got closer to the runway we noticed some vehicles from a distance and the closer we got we noticed an ambulance and a fire truck. And we thought, 'Oh, no. What happened?'" Gibbons said.

Rowan County Emergency Services said the plane bounced as it landed, causing it to overturn. They describe the plane as an experimental aircraft.

"The plane is not built by a manufacturer. It is a home-built aircraft or a kit model. As he attempted to land the aircraft it bounced and he attempted to regain control and it veered off the main runway," said Chief Frank Thomason with Rowan County Emergency Services.

The airport was closed for nearly three hours so the accident could be investigated and the plane removed.

Gibbons had to find somewhere else to land. Channel 9 asked him if he was having second thoughts about his flying ambitions.

"No. There's risk to it but you got to take it with anything I guess," he said.

On Wednesday afternoon, Eyewitness News learned the plane is a Vans rv9a. The Federal Aviation Administration has been contacted and Channel 9 was told investigators have been here to look into the crash.

WSOC