Small Plane Crashes on Atlanta Interstate - 4 Dead
Friday, May 8, 2015
Four people died in the crash of a small plane, on I-285 near Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, just after take-off.
The plane that businessman and former deputy Greg Byrd, 53, of Asheville, N.C., was flying went down at around 10 a.m. ET near Peachtree Industrial Boulevard here. The Piper PA-32 aircraft took off from Runway 3Right at DeKalb Peachtree Airport then crashed about a mile away, said spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen of the Federal Aviation Administration.
The single-engine plane officially took off at 9:59 a.m. and was scheduled to land just before 11 a.m. CT in Oxford, Miss., according to FlightAware flight-tracking service. It arrived around 9:15 a.m. from Asheville, N.C., where the plane was based.
Also in the plane were Byrd's two sons — Phillip Byrd of Asheville and Christopher Byrd of Atlanta — as well as Christopher Byrd's fiancée, Jackie Kulzer of Atlanta. The two Atlanta residents had boarded the plane at DeKalb Peachtree Airport. Also killed was a family dog.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne say a source told him Greg Byrd "calmly" reported an issue "climbing out" and said, "Hey, we're going down."
Winne's source told him that the pilot mentioned he was headed to Oxford, Mississippi, to graduation then after he was airborne, a controller asked if he was flying the heading he had been given and the pilot replied, "Yes," but he was having a problem climbing.
The source said the pilot's next transmission was to the PDK tower saying they were going down.
Witnesses say they felt the impact of the plane crash on the interstate, but somehow the pilot avoided hitting any vehicles.
"The impact was large, like a bomb being dropped," said witness Don McGee.
Gerald Smith told Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes that he was driving his tractor-trailer along I-285 when he saw the plane flying lower than usual, and that it was coming straight at him.
Smith said he was able to stop the big rig before crashing into the plane, but not before it clipped the front of his truck.
“I guess it was just God telling me to slam on brakes to see whether it would go on in front of me, but by the time I hit the brakes I heard the impact hit the front of my truck and not knowing what to expect, I looked at the front of my truck and the only thing I seen was the mirror laying down, I looked back to my left, once I stopped the truck and that plane was just against the wall burning,” Smith said.
Witness Blake Green told Fernandes that the plane propeller flew off on impact. He said the impact sounded like a bomb going off.
Green said he tried to run over and help get the people out of the plane but it was too late.
“As soon as it hit, it burst into flames, there wasn't anything you could do,” Green said.
Source
Images
1. A Piper PA-32 similar to the one that crashed today.
2. Seconds after the small plane hit.
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9. Pilot: Greg Byrd, 53, of Asheville, N.C.
10. Passengers: Jackie Kulzer of Atlanta; her fiancé, Christopher Byrd of Atlanta; and her fiancé's brother, Phillip Byrd of Asheville, N.C.
