GATLINBURG, Tenn. – The National Transportation Safety Board has released its preliminary report on a Cessna that crashed in the Great Smoky Mountains the day after Christmas, killing a man, a woman and a child from the Lawtey area.
The NTSB said David Starling, his son, Hunter, and girlfriend, Kim Smith, took off from Keystone Airport just after 1 p.m. Dec. 26 and crashed about three hours later during its approach to Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Airport in Sevierville, Tennessee.
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The wreckage was located the next day on the side of a mountain about 15 miles south-southeast of the airport. A tactical rescue team of the National Park Service had to recover the bodies from the rugged terrain.
The report noted that instrument flight rules were in effect and Starling was not IFR-rated. He also had not filed a flight plan.
The plane was at 5,400 feet on approach to the airport when last contact was made with the control tower. Starling was flying near Mount Conte, which has an elevation of 6,500 feet.
Cloud tops were from 6,000 to 7,000 feet down to 4,600 feet, the NTSB noted. News4Jax aviation expert Ed Booth said that means Starling was flying in clouds that were obscuring the top of the mountains.