FlightAware Flight Tracker N452MA MU-2B
from The Commercial Appeal
A distressed pilot who radioed that he might try landing on U.S. 51 crashed instead at Millington Jetport (Memphis) this morning.
The unidentified pilot was injured but talking to emergency workers who pulled him from the heavily damaged turboprop, Millington Assistant Fire Chief Danny Turpin said.
The MU-2B crashed about 11:00 today at the Millington Jetport. The accident occurred in light rain on the south end of runway ‘4’.
It is registered to Briggs Tobacco and Specialty Company of Memphis.
A reporter for The Commercial Appeal Memphis Paper, having heard that an airborne plane was reporting engine trouble, witnessed the last half of the accident. The MU-2B was moving sideways in the distance at a tiltled angle - plowed through grass after running out of runway, crashed through a chain linked security fence and ground to a halt more than 100 yards off the asphalt.
A reporter for The Commercial Appeal, having heard the emergency broadcast that an airborne plane was reporting engine trouble, witnessed the last half of the incident from a distance as he drove toward the airport.
The left wing broke and folded down, the left propeller sliced into the fuselage, and the nose lay on the ground.
After the crash, the injured pilot had trouble shutting off the left engine, and escaping the plane. Confirming, the engine that would not shut down was the one mounted on the broken wing, Turpin said.
Three hours worth of fuel was on board, according to the emergency dispatch. Firefighters approached the powered aircraft cautiously. The engine continued to whir for 10 minutes.
After spraying foam, firefighters went inside the plane with a stretcher, and carried the pilot to an ambulance. (Pilot was clearly in pain).
The pilot had radioed that an engine was in trouble, and might land on the divided four lane highway, but eventually determined that he could make the airport.