PITT COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) – Authorities say a bird strike caused a plane to crash in a soybean field, just two miles from the Pitt-Greenville Airport.

It happened around 3:15 p.m. on Highway 43 north of Greenville near the U.S. 264 interchange.

A WITN photographer says the small yellow plane is upside-down in a soybean field behind a home.

There are no flames or smoke coming from the aircraft.

Pitt County Emergency Management tells WITN that the people on the aircraft were adult men. One of them was taken to Vidant Medical Center with minor injuries.

The single-engine American Legend AL3 is owned by Duane Walker of Grifton. According to federal records, the aircraft was built in 2007.

Red Oak Fire Chief George Darden says it was on a training flight that had just left the Pitt-Greenville Airport when a bird hit the aircraft.

Darden says they tried to land in the field and made it to the ground, but the plane then flipped over.

The chief said the two people on the plane were a flight instructor and a student. He said the student was the one who was taken to the hospital.

The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to arrive tomorrow to conduct the investigation into the mishap.

https://www.witn.com/2020/11/16/first-responders-on-scene-of-pitt-county-plane-crash/