MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (AP) - The pilot of an experimental plane was killed
Monday after it crashed near the woods at the Mount Pleasant Regional
Airport, authorities said.
The plane, which was practicing touch-and-go landings, crashed about 11:30
a.m, said Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation
Administration in Atlanta. The pilot was the only one aboard, Bergen said.

Sam Hoerter, the airports director for the Charleston County Aviation
authority, confirmed the pilot died in the crash. The victim's identity was
not immediately released.

The airport is located in a rural area of Mount Pleasant, a Charleston
suburb, along U.S. Highway 17 on the northeastern edge of town.

Officials from the FAA were on the scene Monday investigating. The airport
was closed to planes after the accident but was expected to reopen later in
the day, Hoerter said.

The aircraft was a Lancair 360, a fixed-wing, single-engine aircraft,
according to the FAA aircraft registry.

Initially the FAA reported the plane was a single-engine biplane like those
used for training during World War II. However, the initial information came
from an incorrect tail number, Bergen said.