Mayat Pria yang Jatuh dari Pesawat Ditemukan
Body of Pilot who Fell 2,500 Feet From Plane Found
Editor : Heru S Winarno
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
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Nashville (B2B) - Tim pencari dan penyelamat di pedesaan Tennessee Amerika Serikat (AS), menemukan jenazah seorang pria pilot yang jatuh dari ketinggian 2.500 kaki setelah penutup kokpit pesawatnya terbuka.
"Mereka menemukan dia di pohon, tidak jauh dari jalan raya", sekitar setengah mil dari kantor relawan pemadam, kata Bob Gault, Juru Bicara Kantor Sheriff`s Bradley County, Sabtu waktu setempat (Minggu WIB).
Gault mengatakan, ia harus menunggu sampai National Transportation Safety Board menyelesaikan penyelidikan sebelum mengkonfirmasi laporan bahwa pria tersebut tidak memakai sabuk keselamatan dan pesawat itu telah menukik saat kecelakaan terjadi, Jumat sore (29/3).
Personel gawat darurat dari Bradley County serta satu helikopter Tennessee Highway Patrol dikerahkan untuk melakukan pencarian pria yang hilang setelah ko-pilotnya tak bisa menerbangkan pesawat kembali ke Collegedale Municipal Airport setelah kecelakaan tersebut, kata Gault.
Menurut laporan setempat, pria yang tewas itu adalah pilot berpengalaman yang sedang dilatih untuk menerbangkan pesawat yang baru dibelinya belum lama ini.
Gault mengatakan pesawat bermesin tunggal tersebut meninggalkan Collegedale Municipal Airport, tepat di luar Chattanooga antara pukul 15.00 dan 16.00 waktu setempat pada Jumat. Mereka melakukan penerbangan di wilayah udara Bradley County selatan, daerah pedesaan dengan banyak pertanian dan sedikit warga.
"Ada dua pilot di dalam pesawat. Pada satu saat selama perbangan mereka, penutup pesawat tak berfungsi dan, akibatnya, salah seorang pilot terlempar ke luar pesawat," ujarnya.
Upaya pencarian dari udara dan darat tak berhasil pada Jumat malam dan dilanjutkan pada Sabtu pagi. Gault mengatakan karena mayat pria tersebut berada di barisan pohon, barangkali itu lah yang menyebabkan dia tak bisa ditemukan dari udara.
Namun, pilot yang terlibat dalam kecelakaan tersebut belum disiarkan. Seorang pekerja di bandar udara yang tak ingin disebutkan jatidirinya mengatakan, kedua pria itu adalah pilot yang berpengalaman dan "orang yang sangat baik".
Nashville - Search crews in rural Tennessee have found the body of a man who fell an estimated 2,500 feet to his death after the cockpit canopy of his airplane opened, officials said on Saturday.
"They found him in a tree line, not too far off the road," about a half-mile from a volunteer fire station, said Bob Gault, spokesman for the Bradley County Sheriff's Office.
Gault said he would have to wait until the National Transportation Safety Board completes an investigation before confirming reports that the man was not wearing his safety harness and that the plane had gone into a nosedive at the time of the accident late on Friday afternoon.
Emergency personnel from Bradley County as well as a Tennessee Highway Patrol helicopter were called into the search for the missing man after his co-pilot was able to fly the plane back to Collegedale Municipal Airport after the accident, according to Gault.
Local reports said that man who died was an experienced pilot who was being trained to fly the plane, which he had recently purchased.
Gault said the single-engine aircraft left Collegedale Municipal Airport just outside Chattanooga between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday. The flight path took them over southern Bradley County, a rural area with many farms and few communities.
"There were two pilots on board," Gault said. "At some point during their flight, the canopy on the aircraft malfunctioned and, as a result, one of the pilots was ejected."
Search efforts from the air and on the ground were unsuccessful Friday night and resumed on Saturday morning. Gault said the fact that the body was in a tree line probably kept it from being spotted from the air.
The names of the pilots involved have not been released. A worker at the airport who asked not to be identified said both men were experienced pilots and "real nice guys."
