WEST PELZER, S.C. (AP) -- Three people were killed Thursday when their small plane crashed in a rural area here about 10-15 miles from an airport.
Anderson County Coroner Greg Shore said Harry Alton ``Chip'' Moore, 52, an Anderson business owner and his business partner, 46-year-old Brian Winstead of Anderson were killed. Scott Burdick, 43, of Greer also was killed.
Both Moore and Burdick, a flight instructor, were pilots. It was not clear who was flying the plane, Shore said.
The plane, which went down about 10:13 a.m., was on its way from Jacksonville, Fla., said Christopher White, a spokesman with the Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta. It was heading to Anderson Regional Airport, but had been diverted to Donaldson Center, an airfield in nearby Greenville.
Shore said the plane hit trees and a power line as it crashed, leaving a 500-yard stretch of debris in a field.
Officials still were working to determine the cause of the crash, but the weather was poor at the time, Shore said. The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating.
The plane, a single-engine DA-40, was registered to Accu-Pad Inc. in Anderson.
Employee Jeremy Baxter said Accu-Pad was a small company, with just four or five employees and the owners. He said employees were shocked to learn of the crash Thursday.
``They weren't just our bosses, they were our friends,'' Baxter said.
The company makes silicon print pads.
Shore said it appeared the passengers died of blunt force trauma from the impact of the crash. Autopsies were scheduled for Friday morning at the Anderson Area Medical Center.
West Pelzer Mayor Peggy Paxton said she saw ``a big pile of rubble'' at the crash site, which is in a field behind a house.
