A single-engine plane crashed in central Texas, killing the pilot, his wife and two children from Georgia, as well as his brother, officials said Tuesday.Two men, one woman, two children and a dog aboard the plane died in the crash in Morristown, New Jersey, just after 10 a.m. ET, said Robert Gretz, a senior air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.
The plane, a six-seater Socata TBM700, was headed from Teterboro, New Jersey, to DeKalb-Peachtree Airport in suburban Atlanta when it crashed onto Interstate 287 about 14 minutes into the flight, Gretz said.
The plane was at about 17,500 feet when "there was some discussion between the pilot and the controller of locations of icing conditions," he said.
He told reporters Monday night the conversation seemed "routine" and was "not a distress call."
Gretz said he did not know whether the conversation concerned a cloud that might contain ice; actual icing on the airplane; or whether the pilot was inquiring where ice might be or reporting it. "I've heard this thirdhand.
That's something I need to listen to the tapes to know," he said.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators said the search for wreckage was suspended after dark Tuesday and would be resumed after the Wednesday morning commute to minimize traffic problems.
NTSB officials said they don't believe the plane had a black box, which would have recorded flight data, but they said investigators were searching for other memory devices, including GPS, collision avoidance systems or any device with a recordable chip that might yield more information.
Rockaway Township resident Chris Covello said he saw the plane spin out of control from the car dealership where he works in Morristown, near the site of the crash.
"It was like the plane was doing tricks or something, twirling and flipping," he said. "It started going straight down. I thought any second they were going to pull up. But then the wing came off and they went straight down."
The high-performance Socata TBM-700 turboprop had departed from nearby Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and crashed about 14 minutes into its flight. It was headed for DeKalb Peachtree Airport near Atlanta.
The pilot had a seven-second call with a controller about icing shortly before the crash, NTSB investigator Robert Gretz said.
Vinger identified the victims as 33-year-old Michael D. Butler; his 34-year-old wife Kelly; their 14-year-old daughter Brooke; and son Braden, age 2. The family was from Stockbridge, Georgia, south of Atlanta.
Also killed was the pilot’s brother, David S. Butler, 37, of Mount Clam, Texas.
The plane had yet to begin its descent into Waco, and storms with rain and lightning were moving through the area when the crash occurred. Vinger said it was not clear if the weather played any role, and that authorities hadn’t determined the cause of the crash.
