BRYAN, Texas – Those who live on the sprawling farms north of Bryan-College Station tried in vain to save the lives of an entire family whose plane crashed just before Christmas. Recently obtained recordings of 911 calls are providing some insight into that fatal accident.
"My husband came in and said he thought he heard something blow up outside," a woman is heard telling a Brazos County Sheriff's Office dispatcher. "Now he's gone outside and says there's an airplane crashed in our pasture."
The six-seat Piper plane crashed within 100 yards of a couple's home.
"I was laying on the couch watching TV and I heard a noise and then I heard a big crash," a man is heard telling the dispatcher on a recorded 911 call.
"Is there, like, fire?" the dispatcher asked.
"No fire, just a terrible crash," the man said.
That man then tells the dispatcher he immediately ran outside to search for survivors.
"I don't believe anybody is alive," the man told the dispatcher. "I'm trying to look still, but, I mean, they're mangled up pretty bad."
The plane came down during heavy thunderstorms the evening of Dec. 20. Flight records show a family of four and the pilot's brother were on-board.
"This is not a good way to start the Christmas week," the man told the dispatcher.
"No, it's not. No, it's not," the dispatcher responded.
"I just keep hoping somebody's breathing, but I just don't believe so," the man said.
These calls to 911 indicate the family did not survive the initial impact. Federal investigators said 33-year-old Michael Butler was at the controls and that he was a fairly new pilot who earned his license only a year prior.
Butler's wife, Kelly, their 14-year-old daughter, Brooke, and 2-year-old son, Braden, were also on board. Butler's brother was also a passenger on the plane.
"Yeah, it's a kid," the man told the dispatcher after searching the wreckage. "Oh, my God."
The family was from Stockbridge, Ga., except for Butler's brother, who was from Mount Calm, Texas, just north of Waco. Flight records show the family took off from Georgia and stopped in Mississippi before heading to Waco.
A preliminary report filed by the National Transportation Safety Board reads the pilot's last radio contact was with an air traffic controller.
"The pilot last reported that he was in "bad" weather and was going to try to get out of it," the NTSB report stated. The report further stated after that transmission radio contact was lost.
Federal investigators told Local 2 Investigates the plane appeared to have fuel when it crashed and so far nothing in the investigation has indicated engine trouble. An investigator with the NTSB said it is possible for strong storms to rip apart a plane like this one in mid-air.
A day following the accident NTSB investigator Tim LeBaron told Local 2 it appeared the plane suffered an "in-flight break-up." However, LeBaron cautioned that a final determination as to what caused this crash won't be released for several months.
Those who searched for survivors and dialed 911 indicated the weather was severe around the time they heard the crash.
"Right about the time I came outside the bottom fell out and it went to raining real hard," one caller said.
