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The passengers on board a single-engine airplane that crashed onto one of America's busiest highways were headed to Oxford, Miss, for a graduation ceremony.
Dough Alexander, who is a pilot and took off from the same airport, said he and his wife were also headed to Oxford, and had a brief conversation in passing with the victims of the crash. Noticing their Mississippi hats, Alexander and his wife greeted them with a "hotty toddy," part of an Ole Miss cheer.
“It was ironic that both of us were taking off to the same small place this morning,” said Alexander, who runs a consultancy, Transformational Development Counsel. “We took off in perfect conditions, which was the strange thing.”
The airplane crashed Friday morning, shortly after takeoff from DeKalb-Peachtree Airport in Atlanta. It crashed onto I-285, one of the busiest interstates in the US. The highway was shut down in both directions for several hours.
The victims of the crash have been identified as Christopher Byrd, Greg Byrd, Phillip Byrd and Jackie Kulzer.
According to theknot.com, Kulzer and Christopher Byrd were planning to get married on Oct. 17.
A spokeswoman for Ole Miss said the school is aware of the crash, and that it was in the process of determining any connections to the university.
Alexander's plane was initially identified as the plane involved in the crash. Alexander said he left at about 10:30 a.m., and reached Oxford in about 90 minutes.
When he landed, he had a number of media calls based on the flight plan he shared with the fatal flight.
“The first reports were that it was our plane,” he said.