During last night’s episode of Southern Charm, Eliza Limehouse opened up about a plane crash that could have taken her life. When her father asked her how she was doing, she spoke about the tragedy that happened prior to filming.
In the scene, she told her father that cheating death was the weirdest feeling that she’s ever experienced. In flashback photos, Bravo then told the story of how Eliza was invited to go to the Bahamas with a man she had been dating named Don. They were supposed to fly with his friends on a private jet. However, Don had forgotten his passport and told his friends to go without them.
While Eliza admits she was ticked off because they couldn’t go, she would later learn that the plane had crashed somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. The show didn’t go into detail about the actual plane crash, but it did reference an online report called, “Charleston-area loved ones mourn loss of passengers on plane that disappeared over ocean.”
The crash happened on October 25, 2018, and the report is from November 1, 2018. The report outlines how the plane took off from the Robert F. Swinnie Airport in Andrews, South Carolina, and disappeared more than 100 miles off the coast. At the time, authorities explained that it was the passengers that reported an in-flight emergency to air traffic controllers before the plane disappeared.
Two of the five passengers were identified by loved ones as Jamie Mitchum Jr., 58, of Bonneau, and Joseph Wayne Allbritton Jr., 34, of Charleston. Mitchum and others on board were licensed pilots.
A second report was published two weeks after the original report about the crash, but little information had been confirmed. Families still didn’t have all the answers as to what went wrong.
Air traffic controllers were able to understand from a transmission that the pilot was trying to divert to Charleston. The plane had descended and maintained its course. However, 38 seconds later, the plane turned sharply to the left and was now descending fast, up to 4,000 feet per minute.
“Emergency emergency, five five five papa mike,” the pilot shared in the final transmission over the Atlantic.
While the coast guard was able to find an oil slick near the plane’s last known coordinates, they were unable to find the wreckage, survivors, or remains of the crash. Just two days after the crash, the search was called off on October 27 with everyone on board presumed dead.
As for the condition of the plane, it had been inspected just two months prior with both engines being replaced along with the cabin oxygen bottle. The plane was in compliance with the rules outlined for that specific type of plane.
Southern Charm airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.