A smaller plane’s crash at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on Wednesday morning injured both of its passengers onboard and halted activity near the airports’ runways.

The crash of a single-engine Socata TBM-700 led the airport to issue an alert at 10:41 a.m. saying the Airport Authority were responding to a crash near RDU’s secondary runway. Airport Authority CEO Michael Landguth later said in a press conference Wednesday afternoon the crash happened at 10:10 a.m.

The plane — which has been identified as one owned by Medical Air Inc. and operated by UNC Air Operations — had a UNC logo on its tail. The UNC Health system issued a statement confirming the aircraft is one of its medical planes, and later identified Dr. Paul Chelminski as its passenger. Chelminski is an internal medicine physician with the statewide healthcare system and a faculty member in UNC’s School of Medicine. UNC Health said he was returning from giving a lecture to the staff at the Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington.

UNC Health said Chelminski was taken to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill for treatment and was discharged Wednesday afternoon in good condition. The UNC Air pilot, meanwhile, was taken to Duke University Hospital in Durham. UNC Health later identified him as Art Johnson and described him as in “fair” condition from the crash. The healthcare system said Johnson is expected to make a full recovery.

“Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones, and we’re grateful to the first responders who helped following the accident,” UNC Health said in its statement on Wednesday.

UNC Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts also shared a statement, saying the university’s thoughts and prayers are with the pair of injured employees and that they hope each have a speedy recovery.

Landguth said the Federal Aviation Administration’s ground stop issued to the airport in the wake of the crash was lifted around 11:30 a.m., during which the ground stop had delayed 70 flights and diverted several landing flights. He added the National Transportation and Safety Board will conduct an investigation into the cause of the crash, but that there was no notification made to the Airport Authority or FAA about an emergency onboard before the crash.

UNC Health said this is the first “major incident” on the ground or in the air for UNC Air Operations since it began in 1978. The two other planes in Air Operations’ fleet have paused flights for the time being while working with federal investigators to analyze Wednesday’s crash, according to a statement from the healthcare system.

 

Featured photo via Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

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