Plane Broke in the Air Before Striking the Ground in Calhoun, Georgia
CALHOUN, GA- Fox5atlanta.com writes that a small plane crash that occurred recently in Georgia involved an aircraft that broke into pieces in the air. The pilot had reportedly reported problems prior to the fatal crash. The plane was meant to travel from a suburb of Atlanta to Nashville, but the pilot informed air traffic control of an issue with the plane’s autopilot system as well as with another instrument, which shows the location of the plane compared to the horizon.*
The issues led to the plane failing to maintain its altitude as was set by the air traffic controllers, and about one half of an hour after taking off, the aircraft disappeared from radar screens. Reports indicated that there was snow in the area of the crashes but did not say whether that was a factor in the incident.
Search crews later found the wreckage in a remote area where the main part of the plane was upside down in a creek. The other pieces of the plane were located in the surrounding areas leading investigators to believe that the plane broke into pieces while still in flight.
The pilot was a 68-year-old man from Fayetteville. He was traveling with his 25-year-old son, who was from Atlanta, his son’s 23-year-old girlfriend, who was from Savannah and a 62-year-old co-pilot from Senoia.
Small airplanes present many risks as compared to larger planes. While the pilots are often the ones blamed for plane crashes involving small aircraft, the planes themselves are likely a large part of the problem. Some reports have indicated that technical issues are more common than many people would think when it comes to these smaller planes.
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Sources:https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/report-plane-that-crashed-killing-4-broke-up-in-air and https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/17/small-plane-crashes-investigation/10717427/