Third person dies in small plane crash near airport
Published 12:40 pm Wednesday, September 9, 2020
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McMINNVILLE (AP) — A third person has died in a small plane crash near a Tennessee airport, officials said.
The identities of the three people on board have not been released, but Warren County Sheriff Tommy Myers told the Southern Standard that the two women and one man were members of the military and didn’t live in town.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the three were aboard a single-engine Piper PA-28 airplane that crashed Tuesday afternoon near Warren County Memorial Airport in McMinnville, which is northeast of Nashville.
The plane took off from the airport and crashed in a nearby field, National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson said. A witness told investigators that the plane appeared to be trying to return to the airport when it crashed.
Jerry Wiser was mowing his field when he heard a loud crash behind him.
“When I turned around there was a plane sitting right behind me. I didn’t expect to see that at all,” he said.
Wiser and another person nearby called authorities and rushed to the smoking wreckage to try to help, he said.