DORAVILLE, Ga. (WXIA) — Four people, including a former sheriff's deputy, died Friday when a small plane crashed on Interstate 285 in suburban Atlanta.
The plane that businessman and former deputy Greg Byrd, 53, of Asheville, N.C., was flying went down at around 10 a.m. ET near Peachtree Industrial Boulevard here. The Piper PA-32 aircraft took off from Runway 3Right at DeKalb Peachtree Airport then crashed about a mile away, said spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen of the Federal Aviation Administration.
The single-engine plane officially took off at 9:59 a.m. and was scheduled to land just before 11 a.m. CT in Oxford, Miss., according to FlightAware flight-tracking service. It arrived around 9:15 a.m. from Asheville, N.C., where the plane was based.
Also in the plane were Byrd's two sons — Phillip Byrd of Asheville and Christopher Byrd of Atlanta — as well as Christopher Byrd's fiancée, Jackie Kulzer of Atlanta. The two Atlanta residents had boarded the plane at DeKalb Peachtree Airport. Also killed was a family dog.
The plane was clearly in distress, said witnesses, many who slammed on their brakes on the highway to avoid what was developing. No injuries on the ground were reported.
"It looked like it was struggling. You could see him trying to get the nose of the plane up. It was edging up, and then it just dropped," said motorist Don McGhee, 48, who saw the aircraft nearly hit a traffic light pole near the highway on ramp. "It was just a huge fire, just smoke and fire."
The plane had just refueled, said Eric Alleyne, a National Transportation Safety Board air safety investigator. He will be doing a flight reconstruction and expects his agency to release a report on the crash in six months to a year.
The small plane has no black box, he said, only an emergency locator transmitter that was not needed. He does not yet know whether the pilot made any radio contact before the crash.
Truck driver Gerald Smith, traveling eastbound, slammed on his brakes, and the plane clipped his cab's hood.
"If I would have stayed on the gas, it would have come in the passenger door," he said. The plane crashed into the median wall separating east- and westbound lanes in front of him, and not much was left after the flames were extinguished.
Witnesses said the intense blaze prevented anyone on the ground from helping victims in the wreckage.
"Right after takeoff, there's not enough altitude, so you can't turn around and go back to the airport," said Phil Holloway, a WXIA-TV legal analyst who also is a licensed pilot. "I-285 is about the best option you've got, but of course, it's not a good option at 10 o'clock in the morning. ... There was really no option that made a lot of sense."
A pilot experiencing engine failure looks to glide the plane to a safe and controlled landing in a straight line from takeoff or slightly to the left or right, he said.
"It's a miracle, literally a miracle, that no other cars were hit," said Capt. Eric Jackson of the DeKalb County Fire Department.
In Asheville, friends gathered at Greg Byrd's house Friday afternoon.
Before he opened some tanning salons 2006, Greg Byrd served 17 years as a deputy with the Buncombe County Sheriff's Department, Buncomb County Sheriff Van Duncan said. He was still an active reserve officer.
"He was very professional," Duncan said. "He loved life. He was adventurous. He really did a great job at the sheriff's office."
Greg Byrd received his commercial pilot's license Jan. 22, according to his Facebook page.
The elder Byrd and his passengers were headed to Oxford to attend the Saturday graduation of his youngest son, Robert Byrd, from the University of Mississippi in Oxford, the soon-to-be graduate said.
All lanes in both directions of I-285 initially were blocked at the scene. Traffic around the Atlanta metro area was immediately affected.
Georgia State Patrol officials opened westbound lanes shortly before 1:30 p.m. and opened the eastbound interstate a little after 3 p.m. at the start of the afternoon rush. Authorities still are asking travelers to take alternate routes and avoid the area for the rest of the day.
Contributing: Kate Wadington, Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times; Sarah Fowler, The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger; The Associated Press
