Nashville plane crash kills 5 Canadians, including 3 kids: U.S officials

globalnews.ca:

Nashville told air traffic controllers he could see the runway they were clearing for an emergency landing. But he said he couldn’t reach it.“I’m going to be landing — I don’t know where!” the pilot said before the plane crashed alongside Interstate 40, killing all five people aboard.The pilot had another adult and three children on board, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Aaron McCarter said at a Tuesday news conference. He said the five are Canadian citizens, and the agency is working with the Canadian government to determine their identities.He said it is too early to know what caused the crash.

Investigators do not yet know the pilot’s qualifications or how many flight hours he had, but his experience is one of the things they will be investigating.The pilot radioed air traffic controllers at around 7:40 p.m. Monday reporting that his engine had shut down. He said he had overflown John C.

Tune airport, just west of downtown, at 2,500 feet and had circled around in an attempt to land, according to a recording of their radio transmissions.They cleared runway two at the airport, and urged him to glide the plane down. But the plane had already descended to 1,600 feet (488 meters) by then, he said.“I’m too far away. I’m not going to make it,” he said.That was the last they heard from the plane, which dropped off radar as it lost altitude.The plane crashed as Matthew Wiser was driving on the interstate, and he posted a photo of the fiery wreckage on social media.“I saw an airplane essentially crash out of the sky, fall out of the sky, and hit the ground at around a 45 degree angle,” Wiser said in a phone interview.