ATC Recording from aircraft crash

[SJFedor]

So, last Monday, a Beech Baron crashed in North Nashville, in the Whites Creek area. He was IFR in IMC, being vectored for the ILS approach into Nashville International. Something went wrong, and the aircraft ended up impacting terrain about 6 miles from John C. Tune (JWN) airport. The 3 persons on board were killed instantly.

I don't show the preliminary report from the NTSB on their site yet. However, liveatc.net monitors and records Nashville's airspace, and recorded the distress call and subsequent response.

http://archive-server.liveatc.net/kbna/KBNA-Nov-24-2008-1630Z.mp3

N412ES is the aircraft, they make initial contact with Nashville approach about 4 minutes in. Around 14 minutes in is when the first signs of distress are heard. Please note that this recording is a mesh, as the recorder is hooked to a scanner which monitors Nashville Clearance Delivery, Ground, Tower, and both Approach/Departure frequencies, so inbetween, you'll hear communications, mainly on the Ground frequency.

The crash site is identified on this map:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/l=36.28798;g=-86.84370


WSMV (local news station) has some coverage and images from the scene.

http://www.wsmv.com/news/18050094/detail.html
http://www.wsmv.com/news/18171906/detail.html#-   (has video on scene from immediately after the crash, prior and during Fire/EMS arrival)

The response to this was actually extremely quick. A few residents heard and saw the aircraft crash and, along with Nashville approach's emergency call, the first Nashville Fire/EMS was on the scene within about 10 minutes. Nashville Fire had something like 20 units on this call initially.

Weather at the time of the incident was IMC conditions at Nashville International with light rain. I don't have the specific METAR, but I was at work in the trauma center, and we weren't flying any helicopters that day because of it.

Scary, scary stuff....

[Duke Dillio]

My prayers to the family.  Very tragic having happened only days before Thanksgiving.

It sounds like the pilot went into a flat spin.  They said in the news report that this could have been due to an engine failure.  Is this at all possible?  Being a non-pilot type, I'm just wondering...

[SJFedor]

You can see there was a big fire, so it wasn't a fuel exhaustion, which is what I first thought when I heard of an aircraft going down up there.

One of the witnesses described the aircraft as "coming almost straight down in a level attitude, like a frisbee". I'm wondering if he got disoriented in IMC and stalled/spun the aircraft in an unrecoverable fashion.

[Duke Dillio]

In the recording you can hear him say that he can't get out of the turn.  Don't know exactly what that means but I am sure that the NTSB will determine the cause of the crash.  Still, very tragic for all involved.

[SilverEagle2]

Here is what I heard.

13:04: He declares "I am all screwed up up here so stick with me!"

Sounds like he was a little lost as the controller was clarifying ILS freqs to insure he was on the right on. Then he explain that he was going to be vectored soon.

14:24: He replies to Nashville but mentions he's having trouble holding....?

14:40: In the recording you can hear the pilot say "I got it in a spin and I can't stop it!"

Mic is keyed open until 14:58 where you can here him breathing heavy until it lets go and the controller advises that there are towers to the SE and to climb immediately.

15:06: Pilot reports he cannot get it to climb.

Controller repeats warning to climb.

15:51: Controller advises pilot that Emergency Services are on the way to position with no acknowledgement.

28:43: Controller asks another plane to monitor 121.5 for an ELT presumably to see if they are picking one up in the area.

Real shame. It was clear that it was in an adverse condition as all 3 were ejected. Lot of force there. To get all that way and be so close.

[sparks]

Early in the recording sequence another aircraft mentioned observing light rime ice accumulation. It's possible that was a contributing factor, we'll probably never know for sure.