Gabriella Ferlita
Warning: Distressing content
Chilling audio has captured a flight instructor’s last moments before her student crashed the plane they were in.
A recording via air traffic control caught the exact moment that the young teacher, Viktoria Theresie Izabelle Ljungman, sadly died in the flight accident in Virginia.
Listen to the awful moment here:
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Ljungman, 22, was overseeing the single-engine plane in which trainee pilots Oluwagbohunmi Ayomide Oyebode and another unidentified 18-year-old were flying when it came down from around 100 feet (30 metres) at 3pm on Thursday at Williamsburg International Airport in Newport News, VA.
Although the cause of the crash has not yet come to light, it is believed that one of the students pulled the vehicle up at too steep of an angle during takeoff.
The Swedish native sadly died as a result of the crash, which involved a Cessna 172 plane, while her two students at Hampton University were transferred to Riverside Regional Medical Center in a serious condition.
One of the students, Oyebode, was later taken to VCU Medical Center in Richmond to continue medical care.
Their state is not currently known.
In the air traffic control recording, the pilot responded to control staff regarding clearance to begin their journey.
The pilot said: “Cleared for takeoff, 97883. Caution wake turbulence,” signalling a standard warning given about taking off behind a larger aircraft, according to audio available from LiveATC.net.
Shortly after this, someone utters: “We got a crash!”
“883, are you OK?”, the controller asks, in reference to the plane’s identifiable tail number, N97883.
They then ask again: “Are you on this frequency?”, sadly to no avail, by which time air traffic control dispatched emergency services to the scene.
In the audio, it was not clear who exactly was communicating with air traffic control, as any of the three pilots would have been able to speak with staff on the ground prior to the crash.
Although wake turbulence was mentioned to air traffic control prior to the crash, it is not currently clear what caused the plane to go down in this terrible instance.
UNILAD has contacted a representative of Williamsburg International Airport for further comment.
The teacher’s family have said in a statement how ‘devastated’ they are by ‘this enormous loss’ following the influx of support for Ljungman’s loved ones.
They told WTKR: “She was not even 22 and a half years old, and we are devastated by this enormous loss.
“To know Viktoria was to love her, and not just for her family. Everyone who interacted with Viktoria admired her kindness and intelligence, and respected her tremendous dedication and work ethic."
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677