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THE pilot of a small aircraft carrying a family of four made a series of desperate calls to operators just moments before the plane smashed into a field killing all on board.
Travis Buchanan, his wife Candace, and their two children, Aubrey, 10, and Walker, 9, were the only people on board the Cirrus SR22T plane.
The family was heading back to North Carolina following a trip to Florida.
It took off from Merritt Island, located off Florida’s eastern coastline, just after 11am local time on Monday and was meant to land at an executive airport in Sanford.
But the aircraft, owned by Travis, crashed a mile from the airport, as reported by the ABC affiliate WTVD-TV.
The pilot warned of engine failure and a loss of communications when the plane was around six miles from the airport, according to the NBC affiliate WRAL-TV.
Pictures from the scene showed the splintered plane lying in a field following the smash.
Three of the four people died at the scene, while one person died at the hospital.
Investigators are probing what could have caused the crash.
The plane reached maximum heights of 3,570 meters, which equates to approximately 11,700 feet.
One of the features of the Cirrus SR22T aircraft is that it has a parachute system.
But, it appears that this failed.
“It does not appear the parachute deployed,” Ryan Enders, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator, told reporters.
The Cirrus plane can climb at a rate of 1,203 feet per minute, and can fly at a maximum of 25,000 feet, according to an aircraft fact sheet.
It’s powered by a 315 horsepower engine.
Tributes have been paid to Travis and Candace, both 35, as well as their two children.
Aubrey was about to enter the fifth grade, while Walker was about to move into the fourth grade at their school.
Travis and his family owned the local Buchanan Farms business.
“He helped me all the time,” Abraham Garcia, who worked for Travis, told WRAL.
It could take 18 months for the full crash report to be released.
A string of plane crashes have been reported across the US and North America in recent months.
Last week, 14 people were injured after a skydiving plane crashed in New Jersey.
Six people, including a wealthy steel magnate, were killed when their Cessna 441 plane crashed after departing from an Ohio airport.
US on edge over ‘cluster’ of plane crashes
A series of devastating plane crashes, including the mid-air collision above DC that killed 67, has left Americans terrified of traveling by air.
However, aviation expert and attorney Jason Matzus told The U.S. Sun the crashes can be attributed to “random clustering.”
“While these events are tragic, the likely explanation is simply ‘random clustering,’ which occurs when multiple crashes occur over a short period, warping our general perception and causing us to think that there is an increasing trend in plane crashes,” Matzus said.
“When in reality these crashes, despite being so close together, are merely coincidental and not caused by a systemic safety issue.”
The short period Matzus referred to was just a matter of three weeks. The aviation mishaps included:
January 29 – A military helicopter and American Airlines plane collided at the Washington DC airport, killing 67 people
January 31 – An air ambulance carrying a 6-year-old girl and her mom crashed on a street in Philadelphia, killing seven people in total
February 5 – A Japan Airlines flight hit a parked Delta plane at Seattle SeaTac Airport and no one was injured
February 6 – A small commuter plane on its way to Nome, Alaska, crashed killing all 10 people on board
February 10 – Motley Crue singer Vince Neil’s private jet collided with another plane, killing the pilot and injuring four others
February 17 – A Delta plane crashed on the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport, miraculously killing no one but injuring 21
February 19 – Two planes collided at Marana Airport in Arizona, killing two people
February 24 – Smoke filled a Delta Airlines flight cabin forcing passengers to evacuate by a slide after making an emergency landing in Atlanta
March 9 – A Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft crashed into a retirement village parking lot in Manheim, Pennsylvania
March 13 – An American Airlines jet engine erupted into flames at the Denver airport, forcing passengers to escape onto the plane’s wing
The US aviation industry was left reeling when 67 people were killed in a collision involving a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines passenger jet.
The crash happened over the icy Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on January 29.
64 people were on board the Bombardier CRJ700 aircraft that had departed Wichita, Kansas, and was heading to Washington DC.
Days later, an air ambulance carrying a 6-year-old girl and her mom crashed on a street in Philadelphia, killing seven people in total.
In February, a plane carrying 10 people vanished off the coast of Alaska.
Meanwhile, a Delta jet flipped onto its roof after landing at Toronto Pearson airport, leaving 21 injured.
