A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board on a plane crash at the Collegedale Airport in which three members of the Silver family were killed and a fourth was seriously injured says two planes were trying to land on the same lone runway at the small airfield.
Pilot Todd Silver died soon after the June 11 crash at 12:45 p.m. and his mother, Suzanne Silver and son, Gerhard Silver, died in the crash. The daughter of the pilot was rushed to Children's Hospital.
The report says a flight instructor watched the crash happen. He was apparently trying to land his plane at the same time from the opposite end of the runway. One end of Collegedale's runway is labeled Runway 3 and the other is labeled Runway 21.
The report says, "The flight instructor witnessed the accident airplane on short final approach to Runway 3. The flight instructor contacted the airport via Unicom and confirmed that the landing runway was Runway 21. In addition, he did not hear any communications from the accident airplane.
"Shortly thereafter, he observed the accident airplane in a climbing left turn, near the departure end of Runway 3, approximately 80 to 100 feet above the ground. The airplane then made a steep 45 to 60 degree bank to the right, with a nose high attitude. As it progressed through the turn, the airplane's nose dropped and it began a slow 270-degree rotation at a high descent rate.
"After seeing the other plane headed his way, the flight instructor tried to clarify the landing with the airport by a radio and was unable to contact the other pilot to try to resolve the conflict. It is unclear whether any airport employees were working at the airport at the time of the crash."
The report says the airplane "impacted ground and came to rest upright on a grassy area adjacent to the east side of Runway 3, about 1,000 feet prior to the approach end of Runway 21. A 70-foot-long ground scar, oriented about a magnetic heading of about 200 degrees, preceded the main wreckage, which was resting on a magnetic heading of about 50 degrees."
The report said all major portions of the airplane were accounted for at the accident site.
it said the plane had originated from the North Perry Airport at Hollywood, Fla., and had stopped at the Harris County Airport at Pine Mountain, Ga., continuing on to Collegedale.