Rescue workers work in the marsh along the Stono River Thursday.
/ postandcourier.com
(AP) -- JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. South Carolina authorities have released the name of the pilot killed when a small airplane crashed off the runway at a coastal airport.
Multiple media outlets report that Charleston County Chief Deputy Coroner Judy Koelpin said 70-year-old John A. Ratcliffe of Johns Island died at the scene late Thursday morning from head and chest injuries.
Ratcliffe was the only person on the plane. It was flying near a runway at the Executive Airport at Johns Island, parallel to the Stono River.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the kit-built single-engine plane was a Kolb Mark II Xtra registered to Ratcliffe. FAA records show the plane was deemed safe to fly on Nov. 6.
The National Transportation Safety Board will decide how to get the plane out of the marsh.
(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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