Country music star Brett James was attempting to make a 360 degree turn to land his plane just before it crashed on Sept. 18. That’s according to a preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report recently released by the agency.
James, 57, was killed in the crash along with his wife Melody Carole, 59, and her daughter, Meryl Wilson, 28. The trio departed from John C. Tune Airport in Nashville in a Cirrus SR22T plane and was heading to Macon County Airport (MCA) in Franklin, N.C.
Around 2:48 p.m. local time, as James was nearing the runway at MCA, he “requested a visual approach” to land, according to the NTSB report. James reported to air traffic control that he was going to make a full turn before landing and was traveling at 6,800 feet. That was the last message James sent.
Data pulled from the plane shows that James began the turn from an altitude of about 6,300 feet and began to approach the runway from an altitude of about 3,300 feet. The plane’s data cut off when the plane was about .5 nautical miles from the runway.
Surveillance cameras show the plane descending while making a left turn before entering a “tightening spiral” and crashing into the ground. Multiple witnesses also reported seeing the plane flying low “rocking from side-to-side” before rolling inverted and descending behind a tree line.
So far, no signs of engine failure have been found in NTSB’s investigation. The crash remains under investigation.
A member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, James worked with some of music’s biggest stars including Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift, and Bon Jovi. In 2007, James won his only Grammy for his work on Carrie Underwood’s hit “Jesus, Take the Wheel.”
Over the course of his career, James wrote more than 500 songs that appear on albums that have sold more than 110 million copies worldwide.
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