What: Cool Stream Media LLC Socata TBM700 C2 en route from Teterboro airport to Atlanta-Dekalb Peachtree Airport
Where: Interstate 287 in Harding, NJ
When: Dec 20, 2011, 10 am.
Who: 5 aboard, 5 fatalities
Why: After taking off from Teterboro airport en route to Atlanta-Dekalb Peachtree Airport, the pilot inquired about icing conditions, and shortly afterwards, crashed on I-287 in New Jersey. The plane came down on the median and broke up just outside of Morris township. One witness heard nothing but saw an explosion. Another witness smelled burning rubber and said it sounded like a wood chopper.
The plane lost contact with ATC just before the crash.
Aboard the flight were Jerry Buckalew, 45 and Rakesh Chawla (36) managing directors of Greenhill & Co Investment Banking Firm. Buckalew’s wife Corinne and two children Jackson and Meriwether and a dog were also aboard. Witnesses say the plane was spinning and flipping, then a wing came off and the plane went straight down. Buckalew owned the plane.
No cars were stuck but the plane’s right wing landed in a tree 400 yards from the crash site..
The pilot had gotten clearance to climb to 17,500 feet. ATC said there was “moderate rime” at 17000 feet. Another controller warned of extreme icing.
The debris field covered an area half a mile wide. The northbound late of I-287 was blocked a heap of burning charred metal.