Pilot in deadly Smokies crash lacked optional IFR certification
KNOXVILLE -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.
Starling was not instrument-rated, according to his FAA airman certification, meaning he was not rated to fly using only instruments inside the plane.
About half of all pilots don’t have their instrument flight rules, or IFR, certification, estimated Edward M. Booth Jr., an aviation lawyer and pilot in Jacksonville, Fla. Private plane owners aren’t required by the FAA to be IFR-rated.
Booth said it’s likely that Starling lacked experience and was in over his head.
“I suspect he was trying to maintain visual contact with the ground, which led him to fly lower and lower, and eventually he ran into the ledge line,” Booth said. “He was on a mission and thought he could make it … but mountains are very unforgiving."
Weather in the park Monday night was foggy and rainy, spokeswoman Molly Schroer has said. There were no known weather advisories.
“Without an instrument rating, and not being on a flight plan and in weather that the national park describes as foggy and rainy, it's not a good combination,” Booth said.
The plane, a Cessna 182, took off from a Jacksonville, Fla.-area airport, according to Kathleen Bergen, a FAA spokeswoman. Starling was in communication with air traffic controllers at McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville before the crash, according to the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.
Starling, his son and girlfriend were traveling to the Gatlinburg area for a vacation with members of Smith's family who already were there, including her mother and sister, according to Smith's cousin Samantha Hodges of Jasper, Fla.
Hunter's mother, Tabitha Ritz Starling, called the news devastating. She said she began praying for her son, whom she called her "greatest gift ever," and hoping to be a mother three years before he was born.
“I was so excited to be a mother and prayed for a little boy!” she wrote in a Facebook message. “The day he was born was the best day of my life and it was love at first sight and he owned my heart from that day forward. He is the sweetest, funniest little man and never met a stranger! My whole world is gone now and (I) do not know how to go on without him! I love my little man more than anything in the world.”
A park news release said the plane was found just before 4:45 p.m. Tuesday on a ridge in the park, between Cole Creek and Bearpen Hollow Branch. A reconnaissance flight by the Tennessee Army National Guard located the plane after spotting the wreckage along its last known flight path. Paramedics on board the Blackhawk helicopter were lowered to the crash site and confirmed there were no survivors.
A recovery crew removed the bodies of the three crash victims from the site about 5 p.m. Wednesday with help from a Guard helicopter, according to the park. The effort took most of the day.
The plane was "positioned on a very steep mountainside and could be at risk of sliding farther down into the drainage,” said Steve Kloster, chief ranger for the park. “These search-and-rescue personnel specialize in high-angle rescues and have the best knowledge in making sure we conduct our operations in the safest manner possible.”
The NTSB will lead the investigation of the crash. Determining the cause could take months.
Weiss said an NTSB investigator will be on scene for three to five days, looking at the wreckage and crash patterns while seeking witness reports.
