Imagine being on the course on a pleasant day trying to get 18 holes of golf in, when a plane suddenly uses the fairway as its runway. It’s hard to script anything that outlandish, but that very thing took place as a single-engine aircraft made its descent at Banyan Golf Club on the morning of April 24.
The plane landed in a bunker-like area of the course and crashed into some palm trees adjacent to the fairway.
The only person on board the plane was the pilot, who was able to exit the aircraft after the accident. The individual was taken to the hospital as a trauma alert.
There will be a lot of interest in finding out what took place, as the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are both taking steps to delve into the circumstances of the situation.
It’s somewhat amazing that this incident didn’t end up worse than it did. There’s a world in which the pilot may have landed in a different part of the course, under a slightly different trajectory. It also could have been possible that the course was packed with players and onlookers that day, who could have been in harm’s way when the plane made its descent.
Reports regarding the availability and status of Banyan Golf Club after the incident have not yet been shared.
Lytal, Reiter, Smith, Ivey & Fronrath hopes that the pilot is available to make a full recovery and that golfers who were there that day are not shaken up by the event. We can be reached at (561) 655-1990 in the event that you or someone you know is hurt in an aviation incident.
