IN A freak accident, a Woodstock based pharmaceutical salesman was killed when the wing of an experimental Lancair IV P plane which had to make an emergency landing on the beach hit him. Robert Jones who had been jogging on the beach, listening to his Ipod at around 6:00 PM on Monday, was killed instantly on impact.

The single-engine Lancair IV p plane, had to make an emergency landing, after losing a propeller. The pilot had hoped to make it to the Hilton Head Airport nearby, but when the plane's windshield got blocked with engine oil, he chose to land it on the beach and avert tragedy for himself and his fellow passenger. But it happened anyway, for Robert Jones who was jogging near the Hilton Head Marriott Resort and Spa.

Robert Jones, 38, based in Woodstock had come to the Hilton Head on a business trip.

The pilot of the Lancair IV p plane, Edward Smith of Chesapeake, Virginia refused to say much about the incident save confirm that he had been flying the plane. "I've got a lot of issues going on right now. I've got a plane that's all torn up. And I've got a young man that I killed."

The plane before this tragedy, had left from Orlando at 4:45 PM and was headed for Virginia, according to Hilton Head Fire and Rescue spokeswoman Joheida Fister. Fister has said that the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident.