Pilot survives small plane crash while trying to land in Wake County, officials say

The pilot of a small plane survived when his plane crashed in Wake County Tuesday while trying to land, officials said.

The plane, a single-engine Thatcher CX4, crashed at approximately 1:30 p.m. while the pilot attempted to land at Fuquay-Angier Airfield, Elizabeth Cory, a spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration told The News & Observer.

Only the pilot was onboard, Cory said.

State troopers responded to the crash near N.C. 55, south of Maude Stewart Road in Wake County, shortly after 1:15 p.m., said Sgt. Marcus Bethea, a spokesperson for the N.C. Highway Patrol.

The pilot, 78-year-old Rodney Whipple of Angier, was flying the single-seat, fixed-wing plane near the airfield when it collided with several trees in a wooded area adjacent to a shopping center, Bethea said in an email.

Whipple was taken to a local hospital with minor, non-life-threatening injuries, Bethea said, adding that no one else was injured in the crash, and that no other property had been damaged.

Lt. David Adams of the Angier Police Department previously told The N&O that the plane appeared to have hit a tree before crashing behind a Dollar General store near the airfield.

Both Angier police officers and the state troopers responded to the scene, Adams said.

Bethea said the FAA had been contacted and investigators were on their way to the crash site. In the meantime, he said, SHP personnel will remain at the scene to secure the aircraft.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will conduct an investigation into the crash, Cory said.