Body Of Pilot Thrown From Plane Found In Tennessee
The body of a student pilot was found by authorities in Bradley County, Tennessee early this morning. The man had been missing since Friday evening after he was thrown from a small plane while roughly 2,500 feet above the ground.
As previously reported in The Inquisitr, the student pilot was engaging in a flying lesson with his instructor at the time of the accident. A malfunction reportedly sent the small plane into nose dive and the aircraft’s canopy snapped open. The student was suddenly ejected from the small plane.
Bradley County Interim Fire Chief Troy Spence confirmed what most likely caused one of the men to be thrown from the aircraft during its rapid descent:
“The people inside the plane were not wearing seat belts,” Spence explained. “So when they lost control of the plane, in an attempt to regain control of the plane, the passenger was ejected.”
According to Chris Hancock, operations manager at Collegedale Municipal Airport, the instructor was able to regain control of the Zodiac 601 and conduct a return landing following the incident.
The student pilot was thought to have fallen from the aircraft in the East Brainerd and Apison vicinity of Bradley County.
Emergency personnel, aided by a Tennessee Highway Patrol helicopter, were dispatched to the scene. Throughout the night, they combed the area in search of the missing student.
The body of the pilot was found at approximately 11:45 am on Saturday. According to authorities, he was discovered roughly 150 yards from 4900 Lead Mine Valley Road in Bradley County.
According to Bob Gault, spokesman for the county’s Sheriff’s Office, “They found him in a tree line, not too far off the road.”
Authorities have not yet released the identities of either pilot involved in the tragic accident.
Both the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were alerted to the accident and are scheduled to arrive in Tennessee this weekend to further investigate the situation.
Meanwhile, authorities are currently in the process of notifying family members that the body of the missing pilot has been found.
[Top image via Shutterstock]
