The hero pilot of the light plane that crashed Monday in Nashville, Tenn., killing the man and three of his relatives, was a prominent Kansas rancher on his way to the nation's largest cattle industry trade show, authorities said Tuesday.
Glenn Mull, 62, of Great Bend, Kan., owner of Mid-Kansas Agri Co. and Mull's Farms and Feeding, was credited with potentially saving dozens of lives for having banked his plane into the ground instead of into rush-hour traffic or into a YMCA building just a few yards away.
The Metro Nashville/Davidson County medical examiner's office confirmed Mull's identity Tuesday afternoon, along with those of his three passengers: Elaine Mull, 63, his wife; Amy Harter, 40, their daughter; and Samantha Harter, 16, their granddaughter. All lived in Great Bend.
Family members and company officials said Mull was flying to Nashville to attend the Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show at the Opryland Convention Center.
The plane, a twin-engine Gulfstream 690C, went down shortly before 5 p.m. ET Monday just outside the YMCA in Bellevue, a southwest suburban neighborhood of Nashville.
As many as 300 people were inside the Y, but no injuries were reported after the plane slammed into the ground a few feet from its family pool, spokeswoman Jessica Fain said.
"It was an incredibly close call, and we were just incredibly fortunate that more people were not harmed as a result of the crash," Fain told NBC station WSMV of Nashville. "Obviously, we're still learning details in terms of what happened, but it certainly seems like the near-miss saved many, many lives."
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were on the scene Tuesday. Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron said foul play wasn't suspected.
