Grammy-winning songwriter Brett James and his family met tragedy in a North Carolina plane crash
- Oct 20, 2025
- 3 min read
20 October 2025
Newly released findings from the National Transportation Safety Board shed harrowing light on the events leading to the fatal September 18 crash that claimed the lives of Brett James, his wife Melody Carole and his step-daughter Meryl Wilson. The three were aboard a Cirrus SR22T single-engine aircraft registered to James and departing from John C. Tune Airport in Nashville bound for Macon County Airport in Franklin, N.C., when disaster struck.
According to the report the aircraft approached the runway at around 2:48 p.m. local time and James communicated that he was at 6 800 ft and intended to perform a 360-degree turn to align for landing. Shortly thereafter no further transmissions were received. Surveillance footage and witness accounts reveal a chilling sequence: the plane flew unusually low and began rocking side to side over the grounds of Iotla Valley Elementary School before entering what the NTSB describes as a tightening spiral. Several observers say the wings tipped upward and the aircraft rolled inverted prior to impact in a field just behind a line of trees near the airstrip.
Investigators found no indication of engine failure and the craft appeared intact with the main systems functioning. The tragedy appears to have stemmed from loss of control during the maneuver rather than mechanical fault. For those who knew Brett James the details deepen the sorrow while reaffirming the suddenness of the catastrophe there was celebration, travel, precision flying, and then immediate loss. The day before the crash James and his family had celebrated Wilson’s 28th birthday.
Born Brett James Cornelius, the songwriter had been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020 and credited with writing some of country music’s most enduring hits including Jesus, Take the Wheel and When the Sun Goes Down. His songs have been performed by Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Dierks Bentley and many others. The ripple of shock through the music community speaks not just to his talent but to the close-knit relationships he built in Nashville. Tributes from across the genre poured in as news broke of the crash.
Beyond the personal loss the case poses difficult questions about risk in general aviation. A pilot requesting a visual approach and executing a 360-degree turn so near to the runway is a scenario the NTSB recognises as carrying increased risk especially at low altitude where recovery margins shrink rapidly. The presence of two passengers adds emotional weight but also complicates decisions made during approach and landing. Whether weather, pilot workload, situational awareness or other factors played a decisive role will form part of the ongoing investigation.
For industry observers and pilots alike the key takeaway is the unforgiving nature of manoeuvres conducted under visual flight rules when aircraft are loaded, descending and close to the ground. The wreckage may be recovered and the data analysed but the lives lost remain immeasurable. For James’s family and loved ones the extended investigations offer no comfort in themselves rather they add context to a moment that ended in tragedy.
The legacy of Brett James will now be viewed through both his musical body of work and an abrupt final chapter. His surviving children from a prior marriage, his collaborators and legions of fans will continue to mark his songs with the knowledge of how his own life forked into the sky and met its end. His writing studio, unreleased ideas, tour plans and personal hopes are lost but his songs remain.
In memory he may now serve as a reminder of how life’s greatest creative force can be tempered in an instant and how even the best-planned journey matters not when the margin for error disappears. Ultimately the crash of that September afternoon stands as a stark testament to the intersection of human ambition, skill, trust and aerial risk. James and his family are gone but their story echoes.
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