Five Canadians died in a plane crash in Nashville Monday evening. The plane had the pilot, another adult and three children on board, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Aaron McCarter said at a news conference Tuesday. He added that the agency is working with the Canadian government to determine the identities of the victims.
The pilot of the single-engine plane that crashed near downtown Nashville told air traffic controllers he could see the runway they were clearing for an emergency landing, but he couldn’t see it. ‘reach.
“I’m going to land, I don’t know where!” the pilot announced before the plane crashed along Interstate 40, killing all five people on board.
McCarter said it is too early to know what caused the accident. Investigators do not yet know the pilot’s qualifications or how many hours he flew, but his experience is among the things they will investigate.
Canada’s Transportation Safety Board has assigned a representative to the investigation led by American authorities, board spokesperson Liam MacDonald confirmed in an email.
The pilot radioed air traffic controllers around 7:40 p.m. Monday, reporting that his engine had stopped. He said he flew over John C. Tune Airport, just west of downtown, at 2,500 feet (762 meters) and circled around to try to land, according to a recording of their radio transmissions.
They cleared runway 2 of the airport and urged him to bring the plane down. But the plane had already descended to 1,600 feet (488 meters), he said.
” I am too far. I won’t make it,” he said.
That was the last time they heard the plane, which disappeared from radar as it lost altitude.
The plane crashed while Matthew Wiser was driving on the highway. He posted a photo of the burning wreckage on social media.
“I saw a plane crash, fall out of the sky and hit the ground at about a 45-degree angle,” Mr. Wiser said in a telephone interview. “When it hit the ground, there was an explosion of fire 30 to 40 feet (9 to 12 meters). And all the traffic on the highway stopped and people kind of understood what they saw. »
Air traffic controllers then ordered a local helicopter team to scan the surrounding area of the airport for the plane, while keeping other planes out of the emergency area. Within minutes, a stream of emergency vehicles rushed to the scene, Mr. Wiser said.
They discovered the plane had caught fire in the grass just off the highway and behind a Costco store on the west side of town, about 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) south of the airport. general aviation.
“It appears that everyone on board perished,” said Don Aaron, spokesman for the Nashville Police Department.
The plane mentioned in the radio recordings was a Piper PA-32R, manufactured in 1978 and based in Ontario, according to the Canadian Civil Aircraft Registry. It took off from the Milton, Ont., area last Tuesday afternoon, according to FlightAware, which tracks air activity.
No drivers were injured on the highway, Nashville Fire Department spokeswoman Kendra Loney said. Authorities added that no vehicles or buildings on the ground were damaged.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. Mr. McCarter said the wreckage was packaged for transport to a facility in Springfield, Tennessee, where the plane will be reassembled.
Investigators don’t know why the pilot decided to circle the airport before the crash, he said. He mentioned that the plane’s approach was perpendicular to the highway when it struck the ground.
The NTSB will release a preliminary report in approximately 10 days. The full report will take approximately 9 months.
Associated Press contributors include Sarah Brumfield, in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Julie Walker, in New York.
