A small plane crashed into a busy Georgia highway on Friday, killing the four people on board and nearly colliding with a tractor trailer.
The Piper PA-32 experienced problems a few minutes after takeoff from DeKalb Peachtree airport, a small hub near Atlanta, at about 10am ET, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen told the Guardian.
According to flight-tracker FlightAware, the plane was heading to Oxford, Mississippi.
Witness Don McGhee, who was driving toward interstate I-285, told reporters he saw the plane “struggling”.
“You could see him trying to get the nose of the plane up,” McGhee said, adding that the plane was so low it almost hit a red light for entering the highway. “It was edging up, and then it just dropped.”
McGhee said he stopped his car and ran toward the impact, which “was like a bomb being dropped or something”. But an intense fire and heavy smoke prevented any bystanders from approaching the crash.
“It was just a huge fire, just smoke and fire,” McGhee said.
“It’s a miracle, literally a miracle, that no other cars were hit,” said DeKalb County fire captain Eric Jackson, adding that federal agencies would take over the investigation and require the site to be preserved for several hours. No motorists were injured, and police did not release the names of those who died in the plane.
Police and fire crews cordoned off the site and doused the blaze, revealing shattered wreckage on the scorched median. A driver on the opposite side of the highway had his windshield smashed by hurtling debris. Investigators found a propeller about 40ft from the main crash site.
The plane crashed about 20 minutes from Atlanta and brought traffic to a halt for miles as investigators from the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board hurried to the scene.
Moments after the plane crash onto I-285: #ATLtraffic #ATLnews pic.twitter.com/HOtBxxKC2n
— Chris Monroe TRAFFIC (@Atlanta_Traffic) May 8, 2015
The driver of a tractor trailer that narrowly missed the plane said he saw the aircraft flying directly at him, through his righthand window.
“I looked to my right and I seen a plane approaching me at a fast rate of speed, but it was flying very low. It wasn’t higher than the top of my truck,” driver Gerald Smith told Atlanta’s WSB-TV.
“I guess it was just God telling me to just slam on the brakes. By the time I did hit the brakes I heard an impact hit the front of my truck, and not knowing what to expect, I looked at the front of my truck. I looked back to my left once I stopped the truck and that plane was up against the wall burning
“I seen that plane coming from my right and I just knew that thing was coming in too low. And if I would’ve stayed on the gas, I would’ve met it head on and it probably would’ve killed me.”
The Georgia department of transportation said that half the highway could remain closed until 5pm ET.
