KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Nearly three weeks after a plane landed on I-40 East at Papermill, the 911 calls of those who reported the plane landing have been released.
The initial phone calls included claims of the plan crashing on the interstate, an explosion, and flames. Images from the scene later showed that the plane with minimal damage.
While the first few callers told the 911 operator that traffic was fully stopped, a later phone call said that traffic was creeping with all the cars shifting to the left.
Transcript:
911 Operator: “Knox County 911. Where is your emergency?”
Caller: “Um, it is um… On the Interstate 40 going eastbound, on uh… by the Papermill exit. We just saw a small plane land, crash into the interstate.”
911 Operator: “Okay, you said I-40 east. Do you know what mile marker you’re at… on I-40?”
Caller: Papermill, I… We..”
911 Operator: “Papermill?”
Caller: “Past Papermill, yeah, going east. We, we uh are going west, but we saw it go the other way.”
911 Operator: “Okay… Hold on… And you seen a small air plane hit the interstate?”
Caller: “We believe, yes, it went down. We… A small plane. A Small Plane”
911 Operator: “Okay, Do you see any flames or anything?”
Caller: “We just kept driving, we’re with our children and we just saw it… It looked really low and wobbly, and then we saw… it go all the way down.”
911 Operator: “You saw an explosion?”
Caller: “Yes. My son saw an explosion.”
911 Operator: “Okay, What’s your name and callback number?”
Transcript:
911 Operator: “Knox County 911. Where is your emergency?”
Caller: “Right before… Right between Weisgarber and Papermill going… uh… going towards the split in the interstate.”
Person in background: “There’s a plane that fell down!”
Caller: “A plane crash”
Person in background: “In the middle of the interstate!”
911 Operator: “It’s on the interstate?”
Caller: “Yeah, he’s sitting on the interstate right now.”
Person in background: Oh [Redacted explicative]!
911 Operator: “Do we know if anybody is injured?”
Caller: “Oh my god… I don’t know, we passed it.”
Person in background: “It looked like there… there’s, there’s flames coming up.”
Caller: “I see a little bit of flames. They look like they had a kind… like a… not a drastic landing but it wasn’t safe. It was flopping around a little bit. Traffic is 100% stopped, but its right past the Northshore going towards, uh… north.”
Child in background: “It’s bad”
Caller: “Very bad… Sit down!
911 Operator: “Okay, let me see. I think someone else is calling it in. Hang on, bear with me. What is your name?”
Some callers mentioned that the plane was wobbly on the way down, but seemed to be making an emergency landing. The pilot of the plane told a reporter that he was forced to land on the interstate after his engine stopped.
Each of the calls were released with time stamps of when the call was received. The first calls came through at 1:30 p.m. on January 21, with a total of 11 calls came in over five minutes.
Transcript:
911 Operator: “Knox County 911. Where is your emergency?”
Caller: “I just got off of… 75 on… onto Weisgarber Road and there’s an airplane that came down on the… On the interstate. It was landing. It was a personal aircraft that came down between Papermill and Weisgarber.
911 Operator: “Is it near mile marker 383?”
Caller: “It’s a little bit… Yes, I think so. I think that, I think that’s right.”
911 Operator: “Is it eastbound?”
Caller: “I’m assuming so… I’m not familiar. I’m not from Knoxville, so I’m not sure. I just… It came down. We were headed… We were headed towards West Town. We were on the interstate going toward West Town, he was going the opposite direction.”
911 Operator: “You said it’s an airplane?”
Caller: “Yeah, it was. It looked like a small personal aircraft that came down. He looked like he attempted to land on the interstate.”
911 Operator: “And is it smoking? On fire?”
Caller: “Uh… It didn’t look like it. It didn’t look like anything, I mean, I couldn’t if it was anything on fire or anything like that. It just looked like he was coming down. Like he was trying to land it.
911 Operator: “All right, we’re getting multiple calls about it. We’re getting help on the way.”
Caller: “All right, you’re good. Thank you all.”
The plane sat on the shoulder of the interstate as authorities waited for clearance by the Federal Aviation Administration for the plane to be moved. By 3:30 p.m., the plane had been taken from the highway and all lanes were opened once again. According to authorities, no cars appeared to have been struck by the plane and the pilot seemed ‘OK.’
EDITORS NOTE: The names and phone numbers of individuals who called 911 have been redacted from the audio files for privacy.