Plane that left Charleston today skids off Macon runway

The small jet that skidded off a slick runway at a Georgia airport is owned by the real estate developer who plans to turn the old L. Mendel Rivers Federal Building into a luxury hotel.

A check of the tail number on the Beech 400 shows the twin-engine aircraft is registered to Delaware-based Dewberry Air LLC. Dewberry Air also shares the same Atlanta mailing address as John K. Dewberry’s Dewberry Capital. A person at his Atlanta office confirmed the airplane belongs to Dewberry but had no other information.

A spokeswomen for Dewberry Capital was not immediately available.

The pilot and the two other people on board sustained minor injuries, Charleston International Airport said in a written statement. They were not identified.

According to the Associated Press, Bibb County sheriff’s Sgt. Sean DeFoe said the pilot had to be cut out of the plane by firefighters, but he and the co-pilot suffered only minor injuries. DeFoe said their only passenger was unharmed.

The airport said the jet departed from Landmark Aviation in North Charleston at 9:24 a.m. and apparently hydroplaned while landing at Macon Downtown Airport in Macon, Ga., around 10:05 a.m.

The plane came to rest in some trees at the end of the runway. Photos posted at www.13wmaz.com show the aircraft was badly damaged.

Dewberry, who owns a home on lower Meeting Street, paid the government $15 million for the shuttered federal building near Marion Square in 2008. He plans to transform the downtown structure in the 161-room Hotel Dewberry.