Nashville plane crash: Signs of trouble heard before crash killed Canadian family, NTSB preliminary report says
Kirsten FiscusBefore a small plane crashed in West Nashville — killing a family of five from Canada — witnesses reported hearing signs of trouble from the aircraft, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
The NTSB, which investigates plane crashes, released its preliminary report Friday afternoon.
The single-engine Piper PA-32RT-300T crashed March 4, shortly before 7:45 p.m., near mile marker 202 on Interstate 40 in West Nashville, narrowly missing motorists and a shopping center. The pilot, 43-year-old Victor Dotsenko, his wife, Rimma, 39, and their three children — David, 12, Adam, 10, and Emma, 7 — were killed.
NTSB investigators arrived on the scene the following day for a visual investigation before the plane was transported to a AMF Aviation in Springfield, Tenn., for an in-depth search.
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What the NTSB report says about the flight path
The five-page document offers an in-depth look at the damage the plane suffered and the circumstances that led up to the crash.
The plane left Ontario, Canada, shortly after noon and landed in Pennsylvania an hour later where Dotsenko added fuel to the tanks in each wing. An hour and a half later, the family was in the sky again, on their way to Mount Sterling, Kentucky. Once on the ground, Dotsenko added more than 52 gallons of fuel to the tanks.
The plane left Kentucky at about 7:15 p.m.
"No concerns or irregularities were communicated by the pilot to the air traffic control during the enroute portion of the flight," the report said.
Once in Nashville air, Dotsenko communicated with Nashville International Airport air traffic controllers before he was handed off to controllers at John C. Tune Airport in preparation for landing.
The plane leveled off at 2,500 feet to make the final approach at Tune Airport, but "the pilot did not land, and instead overflew the airport." The air traffic controller at Tune relinquished radio traffic back to Nashville International Airport "because the pilot elected to overfly the airport for unknown reasons and was in BNA airspace at that altitude."
The air traffic controller at Nashville International Airport remained in contact with the pilot until the crash.
Video and witness accounts from the plane crash
NTSB reviewed video footage from residents and traffic cameras, according to the report.
"Prior to impact, the airplane was on a track of about 80 degrees as it descended over a residential neighborhood before passing over an interstate highway, where it impacted the shoulder of the eastbound lanes before it struck an embankment and caught fire," the report said.
Witnesses reported what they heard moments before impact.
"The airplane sounded like it was having engine issues, with one witness stating the engine was 'sputtering and making popping sounds,'" the report said.