2 hurt after Purdue flight school plane crashes at Fort Wayne airport
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – A small, single-engine prop plan crashed while landing at Fort Wayne Intenational Airport Wednesday night, according to airport officials.
Executive Director Scott Hinderman said the airplane was from a Purdue flight school. It is unclear if students were on the plane or if instructors were flying.
Two people were injured in the crash. They were taken by ambulance to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The crash was reported shortly after 10 p.m.
Hinderman said a Cirrus SR20 plane was was approaching runway 5 when it crashed for an unknown reason. Henderman said the pilot did not declare an emergency before landing.
The National Weather Service (Northern Indiana) in North Webster reported the following conditions at 10 p.m. at FWA: Cloudy skies but unlimited visibility. The temperature was 48°F with a dew point of 31°F and a relative humidity of 51 percent. The winds were reported out of the east at 23 miles per hour with gusts to 30 miles per hour.
It’s unclear if weather was a factor in the crash.
Emergency workers at FWA have been authorized to move the aircraft to a secure location. Hinderman said FAA investigators are expected to arrive sometime Thursday morning.
The crash forced the closure of both runways at FWA and a brief groundstop for around 30 minutes, according to Hinderman.
Two late night flights were diverted, United 4253 from Newark was diverted to Indianapolis and Delta 3565 from Minneapolis was diverted to South Bend. Both planes eventually landed at FWA only slightly behind schedule.
Hinderman said the airport is back to full operation and does not expect any operational delays Thursday.
Attempts to reach Purdue University officials overnight were not successful.