A small plane crashed while trying to land at the airport on Martha's Vineyard Saturday, after the pilot suffered a medical emergency onboard.
West Tisbury police said the Piper Meridian Turbo Prop 6 seat plane was reported to have crashed at 3:12 p.m. at the Martha's Vineyard Airport.
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State police said the plane landed in a grassy area near the runway.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed two people were onboard when a single-engine Piper-46 crashed while landing at the airport in West Tisbury, Massachusetts, around 3:15 p.m.
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According to state and local police, the pilot -- identified only as an 79-year-old man -- was having a medical episode upon approach, forcing his passenger -- a 68-year-old woman -- to take over the controls.
The woman attempted to land the aircraft, which resulted in a hard landing outside the runway, causing the aircraft's left wing to break in half, state police said.
Local police described the incident as a the plane landing on its belly with no landing gear and said the pilot had to be extricated from the plane.
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Both the pilot and passenger were taken to Martha's Vineyard Hospital, before the man was flown by medical helicopter to Boston for further treatment. State police said later Saturday that he was in serious, life-threatening condition. Police have not said what kind of medical episode he was experiencing onboard the plane.
The woman was not injured, according to state police, but she was evaluated at the hospital and then released.
State police say both the man and woman are from Connecticut; their names have not been released.
West Tisbury police said the airport had opened the short runway and was slowly continuing operations Saturday. State police said later in the day that the scene had been cleared.
The aircraft, a 2006 Piper Meridian, was moved to a secure location at the airport, state police said. It had departed from Westchester, New York, earlier Saturday.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation and is being assisted by Massachusetts State Police and the FAA.
The FAA said it will post a preliminary accident/incident report usually by the next business day. No other information was immediately available Saturday.
NBC Boston has reached out to the airport for more details.
