Pilot escapes crash
Witnesses shocked to see plane bouncing short of runway moments before fiery explosion
By LISA MARCHESONI
marchesoni@dnj.com
Latashia Brown's stomach dropped as she watched a small airplane bounce along a field Sunday before it slammed into a fence and burst into flames short of Murfreesboro Airport's runway off Memorial Boulevard.
"Oh my God, it's going to crash. Sara, call 911," Brown screamed to her friend Sara Walker about 2:48 p.m. as they walked out of SportsCom, the city recreation center that sits only a couple hundred yards from the airport runway.
Walker's phone call enabled emergency workers to quickly treat the unidentified 50-year-old Franklin pilot who survived, but suffered serious burns on his upper body after his 1978 Cessna crashed and exploded in flames.
An unidentified neighbor directed the pilot to crawl away about 50 to 75 feet away from the flames. He was flown by LifeFlight helicopter from the scene to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Center spokeswoman Barb Cramer said the pilot was treated in the emergency room.
"He was expected to go to the burn unit," Cramer said.
Investigators from the National Traffic Safety Board were expected to examine the wreckage today.
Murfreesboro Assistant Fire Marshal Carl Peas, who was with firefighters investigating a small fire at Kroger across Memorial Boulevard, grabbed a medical bag on the fire engine and went to the scene just off DeJarnette Lane.
Murfreesboro Police Sgt. Don Fanning and Officers Robert McAdams, Ray Daniel and Omar Reedy cut and forced the airport's chain link fence open enough to allow Peas, other fire first responders and Dr. David Hopkins to squeeze through and treat the pilot for burns and a broken ankle until paramedics took over.
McAdams talked to the pilot who was conscious and told him he was flying alone.
"He was burnt pretty badly," McAdams said. "He was conscious the whole time, but in a lot of pain."
Peas said they started first aid on the pilot, who was coherent in spite of the trauma and knew where he was.
"He's a lucky individual," Peas said.
Just before the crash, Brown, 23, of Haynes Manor Apartments on Northfield Boulevard and Walker, 23, of Windemere Drive watched helplessly as the plane bounced three times. Then they heard the sound of "boom, boom" when the plane crashed, and it scared them so much they backed up.
Walker was afraid the pilot wouldn't survive until they saw him without a shirt crawling up an embankment.
"We couldn't get over there," Walker said. "We didn't know what to do."
"You could tell he had burns on him," Brown said.
From the plane's low approach, Brown said she believed the pilot knew something was wrong. Brown's hunch was right.
Officer McAdams said he talked to Randy Godwin at Smyrna Airport where the pilot began his flight at 2:36 p.m. Less than 10 minutes later, the pilot radioed Smyrna Airport to report he was having trouble with the plane's trim.
"He advised he was going to land at Murfreesboro," McAdams said. "One mile out, he was lost on radar."
McAdams, who arrived at the scene within a minute after getting the call, said he saw the plane in a "fire ball." The blaze prevented anyone from getting near the plane.
"The heat was pretty bad," McAdams said.
Fire Capt. John Avaritt said firefighters Lance Sutton and Melvin Holmes extinguished the plane fire using foam.
"The engine may have magnesium parts that react more violently with water" so they used foam, Avaritt said. "We got it knocked out pretty quickly."
Firefighters also extinguished a small grass fire ignited by the flames from the crash.
McAdams said DeJarnette Lane motorists trying to see what happened blocked the path of emergency workers trying to reach the scene until officers stopped traffic.
Walker said she and Brown were so hysterical they called their mothers.
"It was the craziest thing I've ever seen," Walker said.
Originally published January 30, 2006