Plane crash along Cardinal Greenway injures pilot and two walkers

The Delaware County Sheriff’s Department ropes off the plane wreckage. (Newslink Indiana)

This story has been updated.

Mangled metal sat near Riggin Road and the Cardinal Greenway Monday as local police responded to a plane crash around 10:30 AM where three people were injured.

Airport manager Tim Baty says the single-engine plane heading to Muncie from the Bloomington area missed its scheduled approach to a runway, circled back around, then crashed about half a mile from the Delaware County Regional Airport.

Baty says the crash caused a fire, which construction workers from AEP already at the airport put out.  The Muncie Fire Department also says the pilot – the only person on the plane – was “entrapped” in the wreckage.  After being freed, they were sent to IU Health – Ball Memorial Hospital.

The fire department says two people walking on the Cardinal Greenway were also injured, including burns, and taken to the hospital.  No one could say whether the walkers were directly hit by the plane or hit by plane debris or tree branches taken down by the plane.  Baty says the plane did not land directly on the Cardinal Greenway, but in a nearby field.

Muncie officials did not release the names of the pilot or the walkers.

Baty says there was never any mayday call from the plane.

The incident is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office.  Baty says the investigation “could take months.”

Baty says the Delaware County Regional Airport hasn’t had a “serious injury crash” in at least 20 years.

Stephanie Wiechmann is our Managing Editor and “All Things Considered” Host.  Contact her at slwiechmann@bsu.edu.