Man Thrown From Plane 2,500 Feet In Altitude During Training Lesson After Canopy Opens Up, Details
In an incident that took place on Friday evening, a student pilot was ejected from a small airplane in Chattanooga, Tenn.
NBC News reported that the accident occurred while the owner of the Zodiac 601XL plane was getting flying lessons from an instructor. However, a malfunction was said to cause a nosedive in the aircraft and the canopy to open up.
Neither the instructor nor the unidentified man was wearing a seatbelt, according to WRCB.
The plan had reportedly been owned by someone who died in a December crash, but was then sold to the currently owner, who is said to be an experienced flyer that wanted more training in the Zodiac.
The accident took place at an estimated 2,500 feet, reported the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The site also stated that the man had a cell phone in his possession at the time of the incident and rescuers were trying to track it in an attempt to find him.
The instructor was able to land the airplane at Collegedale Municipal Airport, operations manager Chris Hancock said.
The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office and the Collegedale Police are currently conducting a search for the unidentified man on the ground in Bradley County.
