NTSB AND FAA INVESTIGATION CONTINUES AT LINCOLN COUNTY, TN CESSNA 182P SKYLANE DEADLY PLANE CRASH SITE

MAY 5, 2015

MULBERRY, TN (WSMV)

For a second day, investigators with the NTSB and FAA sifted through a pond on a farm in Mulberry where a plane crashed on Sunday.

The biggest task was pulling the plane from the pond to send off for testing. Investigators hope it will shed light on the crash that killed 46-year-old Linda Bauman.

"It's very surreal," said Zachary Colescott, manager of the Winchester Municipal Airport. "Linda is one of the last pilots I would have ever thought something like this would happen to."

Bauman took off from the Winchester Municipal Airport around 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Pilots who knew her said they are just now coming to grips with what happened.

"This incident happened on Sunday afternoon and we didn't find out about it until Monday morning, so that hurts quite a bit," Colescott said. "Personally, thinking that there was something we could have done in the meantime if we had found out earlier."

Airport officials said filing a flight plan isn't required by the FAA in nice weather, but it could have helped in this crash.

Now, airport officials want to make changes to improve communication for others.

"We will go back ... and talk about procedures and some things we could've done differently and maybe put together a checklist to make things happen a little bit quicker," Colescott said.

Airport staff remembered the mother of two as an experienced pilot who was always jovial but careful.

"Her personality, just always a big smile," Colescott said. "It was always like she was having fun. But I think behind that was a tone of seriousness and she really respected what she was doing in flying the airplane.

Investigators have released the name of a female pilot killed in a single-engine plane crash in rural Lincoln County Monday morning.  

Linda Bauman, 46, of Belvidere, Tennessee was killed Sunday afternoon when the small plane she was piloting crashed in a pond on a farm along Steelman Road, off Highway 50 in the community of Mulberry. The farm owners were not home Sunday and did not find the wreckage until Monday morning. 

The debris field at the scene indicates that the plane hit a tree before plunging into the pond. A cow at the farm was apparently killed in the crash, according to News Channel 5 out of Nashville. 

Scroll down to the end of the story to see aerial footage from the crash site. 

The TV station reports that Bauman's Cessna 182 crashed around 2 p.m. 

Sunday, though the cause of the crash was not yet clear. Bauman was reported missing Sunday night. 

Lincoln County Sheriff Murray Blackwelder told AL.com's news partner, WHNT News 19, that the pond will be drained to retrieve the plane. Though the pond is just five feet deep, the sheriff is reluctant to send in divers because of sharp metal shrapnel in the wreckage.

Date:	03-MAY-2015
Time:	14:00
Type:	Cessna 182P Skylane
Owner/operator:	Private
Registration:	N6579M
C/n / msn:	18263763
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	0
Airplane damage:	Substantial
Location:	Lincoln County, near Mulberry, TN -   United States of America
Phase:	Unknown
Nature:	Unknown
Departure airport:
Destination airport:

Narrative:
The aircraft impacted trees and terrain in Lincoln County, near Mulberry, Tennessee. The airplane sustained substantial damage and the sole pilot onboard received fatal injuries.

Sources:

http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=175916 http://www.scrippsmedia.com/newschannel5/news/Crews-Investigate-Small-Plane-Crash-In-Lincoln-County-302430221.html http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/index.ssf/2015/05/plane_crashes_in_mulberry_comm.html http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/28970060/crews-responding-to-plane-crash-in-lincoln-county http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=6579M
http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1076665/