It began as a quiet evening in Bath Township. Then a private jet flew overhead and quickly crashed through the trees in flames.

Audio from the cockpit captured the terror as the panicked pilot shouted, “Stall, recovery, stall, recovery!” trying to save the plane, but it never recovered.

The Hawker 800XP model jet had just taken off from Battle Creek-WK Kellogg Regional Airport in Michigan. It dropped more than 12,000 feet in less than a minute.

Air traffic controllers tried to reach the pilot. “What is your altitude? Do you read?” one called out, but the radio stayed silent. The dispatcher even asked other pilots nearby to look for smoke. One finally replied, “Yeah, we got burning smoke. Looks like there’s a road just to the south.” That was all anyone could do.

Three people were on bo

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