Overview

• At about 12:30 p.m. on July 30, a Piper Cherokee Archer flipped upside down in a wooded area at Block Island State Airport
• More than 20 New Shoreham firefighters, police officers and Rhode Island Airport Corporation staff used water and foam to secure the wreckage and extricate all three passengers
• All three occupants were transported to Block Island Medical Centre with no serious injuries reported
• Rhode Island State Police under Col. Darnell Weaver have opened a formal investigation and are determining how to reach the remote crash site
• The incident highlights ongoing challenges at the single-runway airport, which handles 8,000–10,000 flights annually and has a history of past mishaps including a 2017 runway overshoot and a 1974 seaplane capsizing