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An unknown visitor attached a memorial bouquet Tuesday to the buoy that marks the spot of which a single-engine plane entered Lake Hartwell on Saturday, Sept. 10. The plane was still underwater by press time Wednesday. One passenger, the pilot, was assumed dead upon impact. Excavation crews were scheduled to lift the plane from the lake depths Thursday.
A double-engine plane flown by a lone pilot crashed Saturday, Sept. 10 into Lake Hartwell near Long Point Recreation Area in Hartwell.
After impact at approximately 12:30 p.m., the plane ended up under about 120 feet of water, according to Hart County Sheriff Mike Cleveland, and the pilot was assumed dead.
The Federal Aviation Administration was able to identify the aircraft as a Beechcraft 55 Baron registered to Todd Carrell from North Port, Florida. Agents confirmed that it took off from Punta Gorda, Florida at 9:40 a.m. Saturday with a flight plan to arrive in Anderson, South Carolina around 12:40 p.m. A time lapse on the flight tracking site FlightAware shows the pilot’s plane arriving near Anderson airport, then backtracking and circling a few times over the lake before the time lapse ends.
Cleveland said a “minimal amount” of oil leaked into the water from the plane, which was caught in an underwater tree and turned underside-up by Tuesday night.
On Tuesday evening, Hart County administrator Terrell Partain said contractors working in conjunction with the National Safety Transportation Board (NTSB) were expected to attempt to raise the plane out of the water in a recovery effort Thursday.
Cleveland said the plane needed to be carefully removed from the lake for safety reasons and as part of the crash investigation. Additionally, the body of the pilot could not be removed until the plane was recovered due to jammed doors and the plane’s depth.
“[The NTSB] is going to raise the plane and [the sheriff’s office] is going to get the body out. The body is [the sheriff’s office’s] only concern,” Cleveland said Tuesday. “[The NTSB] is going to have to raise the plane and carry it to Atlanta.”
The pilot’s flight insurance company had agreed to “pay out the policy” for the plane’s recovery process, Partain said Tuesday. He added that he did not have cost figures.
Results of the recovery process were unavailable by press time.
Cleveland said he “feels for the family.”
“They want their loved one out of that plan so they can have some closure. I understand that,” he said. “But we don’t have the capabilities to do it.”
A diving unit from Oconee County, South Carolina was assisting the Hart County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday.
Cleveland said Monday the objective to retrieve the pilot from his plane was at a “standstill.” Attempts by divers Sunday to get into the plane were unsuccessful. One diver, according to Cleveland, “got in a medical problem” Sunday. He said the diver is in stable condition.
“The National Transportation Safety Board is saying, ‘Other than getting the body out, do not disturb the plane.’ So we can’t get the body out until somebody lifts the plane up. It’s settled in the trees,” Cleveland said.
“The doors are jammed and we can’t get into the plane until it is lifted. We can’t lift the plane. We don’t have the capabilities so the NTSB is going to have to lift the plane for us to get the body.”