WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | FAA: Four confirmed dead in Summerville plane crash

FAA: Four confirmed dead in Summerville plane crash

DORCHESTER COUNTY, SC (WCSC) - Federal Aviation Administration officials say four people died when a small plane bound for Florida crashed shortly after take-off.

By mid-afternoon Wednesday, Dorchester County coroner Chris Nesbit had positively identified one of the four crash victims and believed to know the identity of two others. James Randolph "Randy" Hargenrater, Edwin Stephen, Peter Radding and a fourth member perished in the crash.

All three lived in the greater Charleston area.

The fourth member of the flight has not yet been identified, but is not believed to have been from the area.

Nesbit said the four friends were headed to Fort Pierce, FL to pick up two other passengers before heading to the Bahamas for a ham radio convention there.

The plane, a twin engine Piper PA-23, took off from Summerville Airport before 6:30 am Wednesday. Authorities say the plane went down 50 yards beyond the runway.

"It's extremely severe," said Jason Ward, the Dorchester County Administrator, of the accident scene. "One of the propellers has not been located at this point. The engine is in a traverse position, upside-down, a lot of charred foliage around the site."

"It was extremely dark and that's why it was difficult to locate," said Ward of the crash site. 

The plane is registered to Peter Radding of North Charleston. Specifications say the plane can seat up to six people.

Typically flight plans from the Summerville Airport would be filed with the FAA tower in Charleston, but authorities said they were not activated for this flight.

"If they had been filed, we would have known exactly who was taking off at 6:20, would have been pretty confident," Ward said.

An explosion was heard just after the plane took off according to a resident near the Jedburg airport.

Crews are bringing in loads of rocks to access the crash site and pull the plane out of the woods where it went down. The Old Fort and Pine Ridge Fire Departments were dispatched to the scene immediately after.

The bodies will be autopsied Thursday, according to the coroner.

FAA officials are on scene, and National Transportation and Safety Bureau leaders are expected by this evening.

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