Pilot Accidentally Crashes Plane With Whole Family On Board
Absolutely tragic.
A family of four have been killed after crashing in a plane on a return trip from Disney World in Florida.
The Crenshaw family were flying back to Tennessee in a Cessna 210 aircraft, piloted by 45-year-old Joseph Crenshaw.
Cessna 210 Centurion is a six-seat, high-performance, retractable-gear, single-engine plane.
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The crash happened at 2:30pm when the plane was flying from Kissimmee, Florida to the family's Jackson, Tennesee home. The crash happened over Hayden, Alabama.
Crenshaw was told by air control to change the route of his Cessna 210 to avoid a bad storm.
But unfortunately his attempts to alter direction and to keep the plane in the air failed.
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The wings of the plane came off mid-flight with a boom, according to witnesses who saw the crash. After the wings detached, the plane splintered into five different pieces in the sky and landed in different directions.
It's not certain exactly what happened and why the plane exploded.
Air Traffic Control has released a statement that includes Crenshaw's last words.
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According to the report, Crenshaw was told there was going to be heavy rainfall and he needed to deviate his course.
Crenshaw replied that he would go anywhere the controller thought was the quickest route across weather, but the controller replied that he did not have a better route.
The controller told Crenshaw to stay at 12,000 feet and then advised that turning to the east or southeast would put them away from the weather, but when the pilot tried to do that, the plane fell to 5,800 feet. At that point, the controller asked Crenshaw to check his altitude. The last thing they heard Crenshaw say was 'I'm doing the best I can'.
Crenshaw's whole family was onboard the plane at the time. 14-year-old daughter Jillian Celeste Crenshaw, 16-year-old son Jacob Addison Crenshaw, and his wife, 43-year-old Jennifer Dawn Crenshaw.
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Source: People, Daily Mail, and ABC3340
Claire Reid