Jogger on beach killed by plane

A 38 year old man has died after been struck by a plane whilst he was jogging on a beach in South Carolina, the plane which was attempting an emergency landing after it had lost its propeller hit Mr Robert Gray who was listening to his iPod at the time and did not hear the aircraft behind him.

Beaufort County Coroner Ed Allen said “Robert Gary Jones, 38, of Woodstock, apparently did not hear the troubled plane that struck him from behind on Hilton Head Island the plane had lost its propeller and the pilot’s vision was blocked by oil on the windshield.”
Mr Gray was in Hilton Head for work but was supposed to fly home on Wednesday for his daughter’s third birthday. He was often out of town for his job with pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, where he had been a salesman since 1997. He was also married with two children.

Joheida Fister, who is Hilton Head fire and rescue spokeswoman, “said the identities of the pilot and a passenger on the Experimental Lancair IV-P plane were not released. They were not injured. The plane started leaking oil at about 13,000 feet and tried originally to make it to Hilton Head Airport, Fister said. The oil on the windshield blocked the pilot’s vision and he told authorities the propeller came off the plane. When he tried to land on the beach near the Hilton Head Marriott Resort and Spa, the plane hit the beachgoer and came to rest a little farther down the beach,” and “I would have to say it’s pretty unusual,”

Picture courtesy of Elaron