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Raleigh-Durham International Airport was resuming normal operations Wednesday afternoon after a UNC Health plane carrying a physician and pilot crashed while landing at the airport.
As of noon, the primary runway, 5L-23R, had reopened to departing and arriving flights, though the secondary runway was still closed, causing several delays.
At a press conference, RDU Airport CEO Michael Landguth said normal operations were resuming, though he still encouraged travelers to contact their airlines for updates on specific flights.
An FAA spokesperson said a single-engine Socata TBM-700 crashed while landing at RDU at around 10:15 a.m. Two people were on board. Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The status of the two people was not immediately clear.
The plane, a fixed wing, single-engine turbo-prop manufactured in 2006, is registered to Medical Air Inc. and was being operated by UNC Health, en route from Wilmington.
"UNC Health has learned that one of its UNC Air Operations medical planes crashed this morning at RDU," a UNC Health spokesman said Wednesday. "The plane was carrying one physician and the pilot. Both have been taken to the hospital. We are working to gather more information."
UNC Health identified the physician as Paul Chelminski, an internal medicine physician with UNC Health who was returning from Wilmington where he gave a lecture to the medical staff at Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center.
Chelminski was taken to UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill before being released Wednesday afternoon.
The pilot was identified as Art Johnson, who joined UNC in 2013. Johnson is currently in “fair” condition at Duke University Hospital in Durham, according to a UNC spokesperson.
Landguth said the airport experienced about 70 delays from the incident and that several flights were diverted to other airports, including Greensboro and Charlotte.
“At this point we are anticipating normal operations, returning to normal operations going forward,” Landguth said, noting the ground stop was lifted at 11:30 and taxiways on the airfield are being used to keep operations moving at Terminal 1, the closest terminal to the crash.
Investigators with the NTSB were en route and expected to arrive in the next hour “at which time they will conduct an accident investigation,” Landguth said.
Landguth said neither the airport authority nor the FAA were notified of ”any type of emergency on board” prior to the plane crash.
RDU notified the public of the incident shortly before 11 a.m., saying emergency crews were responding to an “accident involving a general aviation aircraft” near its secondary runway. Initially, the entire airfield was closed for all flight operations, putting a damper on travel plans across the board.
RDU is still asking flyers to check on their flight status with their airlines. A look at RDU's flight status site shows dozens of flights were impacted.
This is a developing story that will be updated.