Over the years we’ve heard of several accidents where a jogger listening to a Walkman has been struck and killed by a train. But Monday there was a new, and tragic, twist on that scenario.
In a freak accident, Robert Jones of Woodstock, Ga., was jogging on the beach in Hilton Head Island, S.C. – and listening to an iPod – when he was struck from behind and killed by a plane making an emergency landing. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iirpHqO8nA4ZBeupaFWr_K6H7PmgD9EFTIL02
Because of the iPod, Jones didn’t hear the plane approaching the beach to land. Jones was killed instantly. Jones was a 38-year-old father of two who was on a business trip to Hilton Head.
The plane, an Experimental Lancair IV-P, had begun to leak oil and was trying to make it to Hilton Head Airport. But the oil on the plane’s windshield blocked the sight of pilot Edward Smith of Chesapeake, Va. The plane had also lost a propeller on take off from Orlando, Fla.
Smith then tried to land on the beach near the Hilton Head Marriott Resort, and struck Jones.
Jones was a salesman for GlaxoSmithKline. He was set to return to his home and family in Florida Wednesday, with plans to celebrate his daughter’s third birthday.
The aircraft had been headed to Virginia.
