Nashville, TN – A small, single-engine Cessna crashed on a runway at Nashville International Airport early Tuesday, but no one seemed to notice until the next morning.
Authorities are currently investigating what caused the plane to crash, killing its sole occupant, and how the scene went unnoticed for several hours, reports CNN . Authorities aren’t even sure exactly what time the small plane crashed.
The plane is registered to the Windsor Flying Club in Ontario, Canada, and crashed at some point after 3AM local time, the National Transportation Safety Board said. It was noticed after sunrise when another plane preparing for take-off saw the engine cover on the edge of a runway.
At that point, the airport’s controllers called airport personnel who went out to have a look at the scorched wreck.
Though you’d think an incoming (and crashing) plane would have been spotted or heard by the staff in the airport’s control tower, the Federal Aviation Administration did not say how many controllers were in the tower overnight. Additionally, the night had particularly low visibility due to fog.
It is also unknown whether the plane attempted to make a distress call.
The FAA declined to answer further questions, and a Nashville airport spokeswoman referred questions to the NTSB.
The official line right now is that the small plane burst into flames after it crashed, the cause of which is still under investigation. The victim’s name was not released. A Tennessee Emergency Management Agency spokesman said it was unknown if there were other injuries.
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