Man jogging on beach killed by plane

An Experimental Lancair IV-P airplane lies beached on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Photo / AP

A man jogging on the beach and listening to his iPod was killed when he was hit from behind by a small plane making an emergency landing.

Robert Gary Jones, 38, of Georgia, United States, died instantly on Monday evening local time when he was hit by the single-engine plane, which had lost its propeller.

The pilot's vision was blocked by oil on the windshield.

Beaufort County Coroner Ed Allen said Mr Jones apparently did not see or hear the plane, which was "basically gliding."

His mother, Pauline Jones, said today that he was in Hilton Head for work but was supposed to fly home to suburban Atlanta on Wednesday for his daughter's third birthday.

Her son was often out of town for his job with pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, where he had been a salesman since 1997.

"Any time he traveled, I would worry myself to death about him," said his mother, who lives outside Tampa, Florida, where he grew up. "I'd call and say, 'Where are you, where are you?'"

Federal Aviation Administration records show the experimental Lancair IV-P plane that hit Robert Jones was registered to Edward I. Smith of Virginia.

Mr Smith was on the beach with his plane and confirmed he was the pilot. He said he did not want to talk about the crash and offered few details.

"I've got a lot of issues going on right now. I've got a plane that's all torn up. And I've got a young man that I killed," he said.

Authorities said there was also a passenger on board but did not identify him or her.

The plane started leaking oil at about 4,000 metres and tried originally to make it to Hilton Head Airport, said fire and rescue spokeswoman Joheida Fister.

The oil on the windshield blocked Smith's vision and he told authorities the propeller came off. When he tried to land on the beach near the Hilton Head Marriott Resort and Spa, the plane hit Mr Jones and came to rest a little farther down the beach, Fister said.

The plane was still on the beach today. Waves lapped against it and the tail was attached to an anchor with a rope so the tide wouldn't pull it out to sea. The waves had washed away any sign of it skidding across the sand.

Yellow crime scene tape stretched from the water to the dunes to keep people away. Tourists walked up to the tape, gawking and snapping pictures. Other than the missing propeller, the plane appeared undamaged.

The plane left Orlando, Florida, at 4.45 p.m. local time and was headed for Virginia, Fister said. The four-seater plane has a turbine engine, can be built from a kit and can fly up to 600km/h, according to the Lancair website. The IV-P model has a pressurized cabin.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating, Fister said.

- AP