Two Injured In Eastover Plane Crash

Two people who suffered personal injuries in the crash of a single-engine airplane that crashed in Eastover on August 15 remained at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center and were listed in fair condition as of the morning of August 17.

According to a hospital spokesperson, one of the passengers in the Beech aircraft, Randy Nunnery, remained in intensive care.

On the morning of the accident, the plane, piloted by Bud Symond, crashed after taking off at Eastover Air Ranch.

The president of the Eastover Air Ranch Homeowners Association, Jerry Byrd, said that he was told that the nose wheel of the plane collapsed shortly before the plane took off, resulting in the propeller bouncing repeatedly on the ground.

Byrd, also a pilot, said that Symond probably prevented the crash from being worse than it was by veering, rather than continuing down the runway. He said that had Symond attempted to continue forward, he most likely would have struck the tall trees just past the runway. Instead, Symond was able to get the plane airborne between houses with the intent of landing on Wilbur Street in the neighborhood, which has a grass runway.

Among the homeowners living in the gated community off Baywood Road in Eastover, approximately nine are pilots.

The crash remains under the investigation of the Federal Aviation Administration.