May 9, 2001 – The Cyril E. King Airport runway was closed for more than half an hour Wednesday afternoon when a small aircraft experienced problems on takeoff and crashed into a ditch.
"The single-engine Mooney low-wing aircraft veered to the left of the runway on takeoff and ended up in a ditch," an aviation source said. Emergency crews and other airport personnel converged at the site and, after verifying that no one had been injured, began the process of clearing the runway.
According to another industry source, the fuselage of the privately owned, four-passenger plane was extensively damaged, the nose was damaged and the left landing gear collapsed. No information was immediately available about the destination of the plane or the number of persons on board.
The airport closing forced a delay in the departure from St. Thomas of a number of commercial jet flights. The runway reopened around 4 p.m.
