Overview

• James was flying a Cirrus SR22T from Nashville’s John C. Tune Airport to Macon County Airport in Franklin, N.C., when the Sept. 18 crash occurred.
• At about 2:48 p.m. local time, he reported being at 6,800 feet and intending a 360-degree turn to land on runway 7, and no further transmissions followed.
• Surveillance video and radar data show the aircraft flew over the runway, entered a descending left turn, then went into a tightening spiral before impact.
• Witnesses near a school playground described the plane at low altitude with rocking wings that rolled inverted before descending behind trees; the wreckage came to rest in a nearby field with no ground injuries reported.
• All three aboard—Brett James, 57, Melody Wilson, 59, and Meryl Maxwell Wilson, 28—were killed; investigators have recovered the aircraft and continue examining evidence.