Lebanon, Wilson County, Tennessee

UNREGISTERED UNKNOWN ULTRALIGHT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, THE 1 PERSON ON BOARD WAS FATALLY INJURED, NEAR LEBANON, TN 


Wilson County, TN--An Ultralight  crashed in southwest Wilson county around 11 A.M today.

 Wilson County Sheriff Office responded and found one person dead. 

The victim's name is David "Bucky" Carter. 

Will Clegg, 10-years-old, and his friend, Ethan were playing outside their homes on Edwards Road near Salem Drive, when they saw Carter in the ultralight. 

Clegg says, "Sounded just regular, like flying around and all we just heard was 'kaboom'... really loud." 

The boys say they ran to the flight vehicle to see if they could help in any way.

Clegg explained, "We went over there and and checked and he wasn't moving so we checked his pulse and he didn't move." 

Despite their efforts, the pilot and owner of the ultralight passed away.

Sheriff Robert Bryan says the victim of the crash is 61-year-old David S. Carter, who took off from Lawicki Field nearby. 

Sheriff Robert Bryan said," The information that we are getting is that he is an experienced pilot of this type of ultralight and flies a lot for several years

You never know what could've happened while he was up in the air." 

Carter served as the secretary of the Middle Tennessee Ultralight Group, according to their website. 

Family and friends called Carter, "Bucky." Friend, Anyta McDonald described Carter as a, "Very smart guy, very funny guy. Very friendly, very personable." Fox 17 employee, Anyta McDonald met Carter 20 years ago when they both worked at Opryland, doing audio visual work. She says Carter loved to fly, and she is shocked. What saddens McDonald and many other friends is... Anyta McDonald said, "My heart goes out to his new family. I never got to tell Bucky congratulations, because he just got married, he's got a new bride and a family and my heart breaks for them." Bucky Carter married his wife just a couple of months ago, according to friends. 

The crash is under investigation. Federal Aviation Administration has been notified of the accident, and also responded to the scene. The FAA says that because ultralight vehicles are not categorized as an aircraft, the investigation will remain under the sheriff's office.

An unidentified pilot was killed Saturday morning when his Ultralight aircraft crashed in a field off Edward Drive near the Norene community in Wilson County.

Sheriff Robert Bryan said a call came into dispatch at about 10:45 a.m. concerning the crash near Salem Drive in southwest Wilson County. Emergency officials arrived to find the pilot dead at the scene.

Bryan said Federal Aviation Administration officials were assisting sheriff’s investigators in determining what caused the crash.

“The plane apparently had some type of problem, but we don’t know what that was yet,” Bryan said. “We will determine if there was any type of medical condition that could have happened while he was in the air. It doesn’t appear there was any type of mechanical issue with the plane.”

Bryan said he expected to release the pilot’s identity later Saturday or Sunday morning once all family members were notified. He said the pilot was well known in the community and owned the aircraft he kept at a nearby airstrip.

After interviewing several witnesses, Bryan described the pilot as experienced.

“The information we are getting is that he was an experienced pilot with these type of Ultralight aircraft,” Bryan said. “He’d been flying for several years.”

Ethan Brown, 7 and a second grader at Watertown Elementary School, said he heard the plane go down while he and neighbor Will Clegg, 10, were playing in Brown’s backyard next to the field where the aircraft crashed.

“We were playing when we heard the plane go down,” Brown said.

Ethan’s father, Luke Brown, said Ultralight aircraft are a common sight around their home.

“You can see them flying all the time around here, but they hardly ever fly when it’s windy,” Luke Brown said. “It’s pretty neat.”

Luke Brown said the airstrip is called Lawicki Field, and is home to a chapter of the Middle Tennessee Ultralight Group, according to the group’s website.

Thomas Woodard, who lives nearby on Simmons Bluff, said the group is often seen flying.

“They are usually, during the summer, out here about every weekend,” Woodard said. “I know there are about four or five planes out here. They fly over here all the time during the summer.”

http://www.lebanondemocrat.com

Wilson County authorities are wrapping up their initial investigation into a fatal ultralight aircraft crash south of Lebanon on Saturday morning. 
 
One person was killed after the single-person aircraft crashed on Edwards Road around 10:45 a.m., said Wilson County Sheriff Robert Bryan.

Responders found the pilot dead at the scene. No one else was on the plane when it crashed, Bryan said.

Federal Aviation Administration officials were sent to the crash and confirmed it was an ultralight plane.

Local authorities will investigate the cause of the crash because the FAA does consider them to be aircraft, said spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen. Ultralight flyers do not have to be licensed pilots or register with the FAA.

A preliminary investigation by Wilson County officials did not indicate an obvious cause of the crash, Bryan said.

The identity of the pilot has not yet been released. The victim’s body will be sent to Nashville for an autopsy.

Source:  http://www.tennessean.com

LEBANON, Tenn. – One person has been killed after an ultralight aircraft crashed in Wilson County.

The incident happened Saturday morning in a field near 425 Edwards Road in Lebanon. There is a privately owned air strip not far from the crash site.

Officials said one person was killed in the crash. The victim's name has not yet been released.

Several law enforcement and emergency medical crews responded to the scene.

Seven-year-old Ethan Brown and his friend, 10-year-old Will Clegg, were playing in a nearby field when the plane crashed.

Brown said he heard the plane's engine cut out shortly before impact.

"We heard the plane crash and we ran over there," Brown said. "We ran like as fast as we could."

Clegg said he tried to help the pilot who was underneath the plane.

"We just saw somebody laying there not moving and I checked his pulse and he didn't move," he said. "I wanted to save the guy's life but he didn't have a chance to save."

Kathleen Bergen with the Federal Aviation Administration said investigators were working to confirm the size and type of the aircraft. She said the FAA does not investigate ultralight crashes because they are not officially classified as aircraft.

If the aircraft s determined to be a light sport, the FAA would continue investigating.