NASHVILLE, Tenn.—A horrific small plane accident in Tennessee last year that killed a Canadian family of five was most likely caused by a mistake by the father, who was piloting the plane, according to a National Transportation Safety Board investigation released this week.
A year-long inquiry into the March 4, 2024 disaster revealed no technical issues with the plane, despite the fact that the fuel selector was between the "off" and the left main tank positions.
“This setting would starve the engine of fuel and was likely the result of the pilot changing the fuel selector handle in preparation for landing,” according to the report.
The Piper PA-32RT single-engine plane crashed near Nashville's Interstate 40, terrifying passing cars. It caught fire in grass beside the highway and behind a Costco on Nashville's west side, roughly 3 miles south of John C Tune Airport.
Victor Dotsenko, 43, was the pilot. The passengers were his wife, Rimma, 39, and their three children, David, 12, Adam, 10, and Emma, 7. The family hailed from King Township, Ontario.
Their aircraft began in Ontario and stopped in Pennsylvania and Kentucky to refuel before attempting to land at the general aviation airfield about 7:40 p.m. Dotsenko had contacted air traffic controllers and was lined up with the runway, but for unclear reasons, he did not descend for landing. He asked to loop and approach the runway again.
When a controller enquired if Dotsenko still had the airport in sight, he replied that his engine had shut down. The controller inquired again whether he was attempting to land.
“I’m going to be landing, I don’t know where,” Dotsenko said.
A controller told him they were clearing a runway and urged him to try to glide in.
But on his last transmission, Dotsenko stated, "I'm too far away. "I am not going to make it."
An review of home audio and video recordings "revealed that the engine was operating at nearly full continuous power of about 2,650 rpm before the engine sound became abnormal, and the audio contained several 'popping' noises before the sound of engine noise ended," according to the report.
According to audio recordings obtained after a public records request, several witnesses contacted 911, some of whom were still in shock and disbelief over what they had witnessed.
“Oh my God. It almost hit my car!” one caller said.
