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A pilot was heard saying he wasn’t going to make an emergency landing, moments before he and four others died in a fiery crash at the side of a Nashville highway.
The single-engine aeroplane burst into flames when it crashed at the side of the I-40 just before 8pm local time on Monday.
Audio came to light on Tuesday, reportedly from communications between the pilot and air traffic control as the plane attempted to make an emergency landing at John C Tune Airport after reporting engine failure.
“I’m too far away, I won’t make it,” the pilot stated after the air traffic controller told him he was clear to land.
Instead, the Piper Saratoga aircraft plummeted into the ground close to a Costco around 5 miles away. All five people on board died.
Nashville Fire Department crews rushed to the scene, with the department later saying that firefighters had managed to preserve as much of the evidence as possible so that investigators could work out what happened.
Flight data showed the aircraft had flown from Milton in Canada at around 1.20pm ET on Monday, before heading to Eerie, Pennsylvania and Mount Sterling County, Kentucky before heading to Tennessee.
The National Transportation Safety Board is one of the agencies investigating, with an update expected at 2pm CT on Tuesday.
“Our thoughts go out to the loved ones of all those on board the single-engine aircraft that crashed near Interstate 40 this evening,” Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell said in a post on X.
“I want to thank the Metro emergency responders who were on site quickly and extinguished the fire.”
The identities of those on board have not yet been revealed.
