Horrific cockpit audio captured the moment a pilot cried out in terror as his private jet fell from the skies and crashed in Michigan, killing three.
The aircraft plunged into a fireball around 5pm Thursday in Bath Township, crashing into a wooded area and killing all on board.
Audio from the cockpit revealed the moment the aircraft suffered some form of mechanical failure, and the pilot yelled to air traffic control.
‘Stall, recovery, stall, recovery!’ the pilot said in a panic.
The pilot never responded again, and aircraft data showed the plane plummeted over 12,000ft in less than a minute.
Air traffic control then continued trying to get hold of the pilot, repeatedly asking: ‘What is your altitude?… Do you read?’
The dispatcher also radioed other pilots in the airspace, asking one: ‘Can you look at your one o’clock around 20 miles, we’re looking for an aircraft.’
‘Do you see anything out there on the ground? Just asking if you can see anything else like any smoke or anything like that… we lost him.’
Moments later, the pilot of the other aircraft responded: ‘Yeah, we got burning smoke… looks like there’s a road just to the south of where that smoke is coming from.’
Horrific cockpit audio captured the moment a pilot screamed in terror as his private jet fell from the skies and crashed in Michigan on Thursday, killing three
The aircraft plunged into a fireball around 5pm Thursday in Bath Township, crashing into a wooded area and killing all on board
Aircraft data showed the plane crashed soon after takeoff from Battle Creek-WK Kellogg Regional Airport in Michigan, and it may have been on a test flight following maintenance on the ground
Bath Township supervisor Ryan Fewins-Bliss said in a statement after the crash that all three passengers on the jet were confirmed dead, but they have not yet been publicly identified.
The cause of the crash are not yet known, with FlightAware data showing the crash occurred soon after takeoff.
The private jet was a Hawker 800XP, and it had taken off from Battle Creek-WK Kellogg Regional Airport in Michigan.
Phil Kroll, the aviation director at Kellogg Field, told FOX17 the plane had landed at the airfield some time before the crash and underwent maintenance while on the ground.
Kroll said the fatal crash may have come as the jet was performing a test flight following the maintenance.
‘They were just testing out some systems and that’s when the problem occurred,’ he said.
The aircraft had reportedly been grounded at Battle Creek airport for around seven months, and the fatal crash was its first flight back.
Aircraft data showed the plane plummeted over 12,000ft in less than a minute
Emergency services at the scene of the crash on Thursday evening
Flight tracker data showed the jet was a twin-engine corporate jet registered in Mexico and was operated by Aereo Lineas del Centro SA.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.
