I can only speak about a pre-9/11 pilot and flying experience. The rules may have changed but I don't really know how they could in some areas.
A small light plane like a Cessna poses little to no harm to the population. A FORMATION of light planes might, but one really can't hurt anything much except the people inside and causes a small fire on impact, as it did to Mr. Callan and his rented crashed Cessna in Nashville.
About the border crossing- Look at it from another angle. People have been drug running in light planes down the FL coast to Mexico for YEARS. Like probably 40=50 years. It's still going on.
Sometimes they crash and sometimes they do get caught, but usually not.
WHY can light planes do this? Because they can fly at 1000 ft or below and not show up on most forms of radar as a plane. I don't think Callan could have flown ALL the way from Canada to Nashville at such a low altitude because of the increased crosswinds and surface to air winds created by topography which would have used up his fuel consumption.
The fact that he " made it" across the border is not sensational.
The fact that he circled over ONE airport for hours, apparently, IS. It is sensationally STUPID.
He could have flown 100 miles south and landed in AL. He could have flown west of Nashville and tried Memphis. ( which was probably also foggy but still, it's better than circling in the dark).
IMO, the man's judgment was impaired. Possibly before he even got into the plane. In one place, I read that he had no relatives. In another, I read a quote from a sister about him being a long term pilot. So he apparently did have relatives.
The listing of Taylor Swift as next of kin was either a stupid joke, or he was suffering from psychosis, or was intoxicated.
IF he was intoxicated when he took off in the plane, unless he kept on drinking, he should have been sober before landing point.
His destination was Nashville. He was apparently desperate to only land in Nashville. We may never know why, but his actions show that he was not going anywhere else. He died because of the fog there, which is so pitiful.
He apparently was thought to have the experience and knowledge to fly well, but he absolutely did NOT do anything by the books.
IMO, in 2013, a pilot faces military plane action if they ignore rules, including flying over restricted air space. I'm thinking that maybe he had a mental break with reality.
NO one I've ever flown with doesn't have or make a " Plan B" if the airport of destination is socked in because of weather. You go elsewhere and you land elsewhere and later when the weather is clear and you are rested, you fly to your original destination, or drive to it. He could have easily have driven to Nashville in a rental care from another airport.
I don't have a good explanation for the Taylor Swift angle, but if his intent was to harm her, then why not crash his plane into her home instead of the NIA?
Maybe he knew someone in Nashville who had promised him he could meet her if he flew to Nashville. Most singers have groups of larger aircraft pilots that they retain for travel. A Nashville pilot could have promised him a meet and greet with Taylor. I have known some of these charter celebrity pilots and they can have inflated egos about the passengers they move about with. Weirder things happen in this world.
One other thought- this was a rented plane, not the man's own plane. Although most pilots start out in Cessna 172's and know how to fly them backwards and forwards
, there's a chance that something was not working correctly with his radio and he couldn't radio Nashville ATF or Memphis air control ( which is the hub of flight activity for TN) and ASK for coordinates for another, clear airport. I still maintain that he circled until he was running out of fuel, and crash landed due to no other option
at that point.
He should have had a multitude of options before he got into the critical situation, though. Like I said, diversion to any other airport is proper procedure, and that area of TN has a multitude of unmanned FBOs which are fine for Cessnas.
