Eyewitness describes moments before Lee County plane crash

SANFORD, N.C. (WTVD) -- ABC11 is learning more about the plane crash in Lee County on Wednesday that left two men seriously injured.

That crash happened in a field near Raleigh Executive Jetport just after 4 pm, as authorities said the pilot was performing "touch and go's", an aviation maneuver that can be used to practice takeoffs and landings. Both pilot Terrance Gallagher and mechanic Scott Riley were seriously injured in the wreck and flown to Triangle hospitals. There is no update on their conditions as of Thursday afternoon.

On Friday, ABC11 spoke with George Scheer, Chief Flight Instructor at the Wings of Carolina Flying Club, which is based at Raleigh Executive Jetport but had no connection with the crash. Scheer wouldn't speculate on the cause of the crash but described what he saw from the edge of the runway ramp as that plane went down.

"It was markedly low to the ground," he said. "Anyone that flies would have gone out there and seen the plane was failing to climb as it should."

Scheer was preparing to conduct a training flight when the incident took place and was the first on the scene of the wreck after the plane crashed.

"It had come to the end of the runway, in the takeoff phase, but it was lower than it should have been when it reached the south end of the runway," he said.

The longtime flight instructor said it appeared the plane was trying to return to the runway after attempting a takeoff -- a maneuver Scheer called "a difficult challenge".

"Attempt a turn back toward the runway and crashed out in the field there, and there are aerodynamics that occur when you're trying to maneuver thusly that make that more difficult than it would seem," he said.