Khaberni - The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has revealed new details in the crash of a small plane in North Carolina, which claimed the lives of Grammy Award-winning American country music singer Bret James, his wife Melody Carol, and his stepdaughter Mireille Wilson.
According to the preliminary report, James was piloting a Cirrus SR22T from John C. Tune Airport in Nashville, Tennessee, to Macon County Airport in the town of Franklin when he lost control of the plane during a landing maneuver, as reported by the British newspaper "The Guardian".
Surveillance cameras showed the aircraft flying at a low altitude over a nearby school playground before entering a sharp spiral and flipping upside down to crash behind a row of trees, with no emergency signals recorded from the pilot after his last contact with the control tower. The preliminary investigation ruled out an engine malfunction.
The NTSB reported that the plane left Nashville Airport at 12:41 PM and crashed more than two hours later in an open field near Franklin Airport, close to Ayutla Valley Elementary School. The remains of the aircraft were transported for extensive technical examinations to determine the exact causes of the crash.
James and his wife had celebrated his stepdaughter Mireille's twenty-eighth birthday just a few days before the tragedy. The late artist was known for co-writing the famous song (Jesus, Take the Wheel) performed by singer Carrie Underwood, one of the most prominent American country music songs in the early millennium.
James left behind a musical legacy and several children from his previous marriage to singer Sandra Cornelius Little, as investigations continue to determine whether human error or weather conditions were behind the tragic accident.
