NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A preliminary report dropped on Friday afternoon, revealing what was tested after an airplane crash left five people dead in early March.
A single-engine plane crashed near Interstate 40 and John C. Tune Airport just before 8 p.m. on March 4, killing two adults and three children on board. All five were Canadian citizens, according to authorities. Officials identified those on board as pilot Victor Dotsenko, 43, his wife, Rimma Dotsenko, 39, and their three children, David, 12, Adam, 10, and Emma, 7.
No one on the ground was injured.
The National Transportation Safety Board report doesn't list a precise reason why the plane crashed. The anomalous piece from the report indicated investigators couldn't figure out why the pilot overshot the John C. Tune runway.
"The pilot did not land, and instead overflew the airport at 2,500 ft on a track of 200 degrees," the report reads. "The JWM controller handed the pilot back to the BNA controller because the pilot elected to overfly the airport for unknown reasons and was in BNA airspace at that altitude. The BNA controller remained in contact with the pilot through the rest of the flight."
During the accident sequence, the left fuel tank was breached, and a large postimpact fire engulfed the airplane, which consumed the left wing and fuselage, according to the report. Witnesses heard and reported to the NTSB the sputtering of the plane before it hit the ground.
However, the plane's mechanics were tested. None of what was tested presented itself as the reason the plane crashed. The full report will become available in nine to 12 months, authorities said.
You can read the full report at this link.
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