By Staff
PLANE CRASH Theo Magradavilou, left, and Gerald Dozier, both with the Federal Aviation Administration, and Chris Sutton, Meridian Airport Authority maintenance supervisor, inspect the engine of a Piper Saratoga that crashed about 2 p.m. at Meridian Regional Airport. The plane landed upside down. PHOTO BY PAULA MERRITT / THE MERIDIAN STAR
By Fredie Carmichael / staff writer
June 8, 2002
A Meridian dentist survived a crash Friday in which his single-engine plane slammed into overgrown brush just off the runway at the Meridian Regional Airport.
Maj. Ward Calhoun of the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department said that Dr. Mark Williams appeared to have "non life-threatening" injuries.
Williams was taken to Rush Foundation Hospital at 2:30 p.m., about 30 minutes after the crash. Hospital spokesperson Amy Ford said that Williams was in stable condition Friday night.
Local law enforcement officers and emergency personnel from Meridian and Lauderdale County responded to the site of the crash, just south of the airport runway.
Sammy Foy, a deputy chief with the Meridian Fire Department, said that Williams was alert and talking shortly after the brown Piper Saratoga plane crashed.
Calhoun said the plane was found upside down and just missed the trees that surround the airport.