A jet ended up in pluff mud near the Ridgeland airport. Here’s what happened
A small jet ran off the runway at the Ridgeland-Claude Dean Airport on Wednesday morning, but none of the five people, two pilots and three passengers, aboard was injured, airport manager Danny Lucas said in a news release.
The aircraft was damaged, but the passengers declined medical attention at the airport and continued about their day, including attending “their original appointments in the Lowcountry,” Lucas said.
The incident occurred around 10:30 a.m. as the jet landed but wasn’t able to fully stop, causing it to leave the main runway and go onto the runway excursion before finally stopping in a wetlands area, the release said.
“We have all the appropriate authorities on the scene investigating, and after talking with the (Federal Aviation Administration) we re-opened the airport around 1 p.m. Wednesday,” Lucas said.
Photos show the aircraft sitting in a large puddle in a grassy area at the airport and then later being lifted by a large crane and placed on the flatbed trailer of a semi-truck.
The “N22ST” identifier on the jet is linked to a company in Newnan, Georgia, near the metro-Atlanta area, according to FAA registry. The registration also says the aircraft is a Gulfstream G-150 with 11 seats and two engines.
A smaller aircraft with two seats ran off the runway less than a year ago, according to previous reporting. No one was injured and the damage was minimal.
The airport opened its $21.7 million expanded runway in 2019. Other plans to improve the airport, including a 7,000-square-foot terminal building, were announced in November and are expected to be completed within a year.
The stretch of U.S. 278, also known as Grays Highway, where the airport is located is undergoing improvements as well. Multiple schools, including Ridgeland-Hardeeville High School, Thomas Heyward Academy, and Polaris Tech Charter School, sit along the same stretch of road.
