Gridlock Guy: How quick response mitigated one of Atlanta’s most memorable accidents

There are many unforgettable days from my 20 years of traffic reporting on WSB Radio, but few can top what took place on May 8, 2015, along I-285 in Doraville.

At around 10:10 a.m., a Piper PA-32R-300 took off from DeKalb-Peachtree Airport with four people on board. A contaminated fuel line caused the flight to struggle gaining altitude, the NTSB report stated. The pilot’s last transmission to air traffic control at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport was “we’re going down here at the intersection.”

The Piper hit the median wall of I-285/eastbound (Inner Loop) right between the exit and entrance ramps at Peachtree Boulevard (Exit 31). All four people, en route to a graduation at Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi, died. As tragic as that was, the crash miraculously did not hurt anyone on the ground…

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