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OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — The pilot of a single-engine plane was injured when the small aircraft crashed Saturday on a golf course at the University of Mississippi, authorities said.
University spokesperson Rod Guajardo told media outlets that the plane affiliated with the Civil Air Patrol went down at about 3:15 p.m. Saturday near the 17th tee of The Ole Miss Golf Course.
The plane "was performing 'touch and go' takeoffs and landings when it crashed," Guajardo said. The course is beside the local University-Oxford Airport.
No one on the ground was reported hurt.
Bystander Brian Scott Ripee told the Oxford Eagle's online edition that he was near the ninth hole of the course when he saw the plane encounter trouble.
"It looked like it was landing and then aborted the landing and we saw it struggle to come back up," Rippee said. "Then, when we were walking off the green it just fell straight down into the trees."
Authorities told the Daily Journal a female pilot was the only person aboard and that she was airlifted with burns to a Memphis-area trauma center. The pilot wasn't immediately identified, and her condition was unknown. News photographs showed firefighters beside the apparently charred fuselage of a red, white and blue plane, downed near some trees with its wings and tail visible. Another photo showed a medical helicopter hovering near the crash site. Reports say a fire truck drove onto the course in response to the crash and that Oxford and university police also responded along with sheriff's deputies.
Guajardo said the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration had been notified.
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