The single-engine plane that crashed in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park this week slammed into a mountainside at 5,400 feet as the pilot descended to land at the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Airport, according to a preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The crash Monday night killed everyone on board – pilot David Starling, 41, of Lawtey, Fla.; his son Hunter, 8; and Starling’s girlfriend, Kim Smith, 42. The plane went down about 15 miles southeast of the airport.
The plane lost contact with radar and communications with the airport tower at 5 p.m., according to National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Eric Weiss. He said the plane “impacted terrain” at 5,400 feet.
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