Franklin pilot in critical condition
Man experienced problems just minutes after leaving Smyrna
By LISA MARCHESONI
marchesoni@dnj.com
Franklin pilot Darrell Swank remains in critical condition after his Cessna airplane crashed Sunday before reaching the Murfreesboro Airport runway off DeJarnette Lane.
Swank, 50, apparently started experiencing problems shortly after he took off from Smyrna Airport, Murfreesboro Police Officer Robert McAdams said.
Witnesses saw the plane bounce and crash into a field near SportsCom where it slammed into a fence and exploded. Murfreesboro firefighters extinguished the fire.
Swank sustained a broken ankle and severe burns on his upper body. LifeFlight helicopter flew him to Vanderbilt University Medical Center where Swank was admitted, spokesman Jerry Jones said.
"He's in the intensive care unit of the burn unit," Jones said.
Federal Aviation Administration investigators moved the plane's wreckage Monday to Smyrna Airport where Swank kept it. Murfreesboro Airport manager Chad Gehrke accompanied the investigators. Gehrke and Smyrna Airport manager John Black were unavailable for comment.
McAdams reported Randy Godwin of Smyrna Airport told him Swank left the airport at 2:36 p.m. Swank called about nine minutes later to report he was having problems with the plane's trim, a flight control mechanism.
Swank indicated he would attempt to land at Murfreesboro but Smyrna lost him on radar one mile later.
Witnesses told McAdams the plane was flying at a steep angle as it approached the Murfreesboro Airport runway.
"One witness, Allen Mason, stated that its landing gear was down but that it was flying at a 45-degree angle when he saw it hit the ground and erupt into flames," McAdams said.
Ken Wingate, a secretary at Murfreesboro Airport, is a former flight engineer who served with the U.S. Air Force for 20 years. After his retirement, he taught pilots for the Saudi Air Force for three years and has been at the Murfreesboro Airport about 10 years.
If an airplane's nose is too heavy, the pilot may adjust the trim on the flight control to compensate and balance the plane.
"The trim is used to finer adjust the airplane where it won't fly all over the sky," Wingate said.
The last fatal airplane crash in Murfreesboro occurred July 4, 2000, on Dover Court off Northfield Boulevard near the airport.
Patrick Michael Couch, 27, a flight instructor with SDS Inc. in Murfreesboro, was flying with student Mitchell Clark Herndon when the school's $25,000 Cessna single-engine aircraft clipped a house, crashed into a yard and caught fire with Couch and Herndon trapped inside.
Neighbors and firefighters removed the victims from the wreckage. They were admitted to Vanderbilt where Couch died.
Originally published January 31, 2006