LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) — CBS 21 has obtained a recording of the exchanges between the suspected pilot and tower at Lancaster Airport prior to a crash that happened Sunday morning.
Around 8am, a Piper PA-46, as identified by the FAA, crashed into a field just after takeoff off of the 2000 block of Kissel Hill Road.
READ MORE | Pilot killed in Lancaster County plane crash, FAA investigating; officials confirm
The pilot was the only one on board the 6-seater plane at the time of the crash.
Audio prior to takeoff from LiveATC.net provided roughly ten minutes of insight into the exchanges between air traffic control and the pilot before the fatal crash.
The complete audio is just under 35 minutes, but the relevant exchanges begin at roughly 23 minutes in.
Here's a breakdown:
- 23:45- Pilot begins taxiing on runway
- 24:26- Pilot is cleared for takeoff
- 29:35- Tower instructs another plane to "hold short" (stop and wait before continuing to taxi) on runway 8
- 29:50- Tower instructs Piper PA-46 to turn onto runway 8 and is cleared for takeoff
- 32:11- Tower starts to call to Piper PA-46 with no answer
- 33:38- Tower asks nearby plane "did you see anything happen?"
- 34:16- Tower asks nearby plane "did you see him depart?"
- 34:30- Tower says "I thought I saw too but now I can't see him and I can't find him."
At no point during the audio are exchanges heard between the nearby plane and the tower, so it is currently unknown if the other pilot saw anything.
According to data from flight radar, a plane labeled as the Piper PA-46 is seen taking off from the airport just before 8am.
The plane is privately owned, so details are limited, but data from the map shows the takeoff point starting at the end of Lancaster's runway, and then the plane moving slightly forward into a field off of Kissel Hill Road.
>>Lebanon County Pilot Killed In Plane Crash
(Lancaster County, PA) -- A man from Lebanon County is dead after a plane crash near Lancaster Airport. The FAA says a small aircraft went down in a field near Stauffer Road Sunday morning. The pilot, identified as 58-year-old Musaddiq Nazeeri, was the only person onboard. An investigation is underway.