Plane crash victim identified

The man killed in a plane crash in Nashville has been identified as Michael Callan.

Callan, 45 years old, was the only person on the plane at the time of the crash.

"Michael loved to fly planes, he was an aspiring pilot and his passion was to fly," Jodie Quenneville, the sister of Callan, told CBC News.

A single-engine Cessna-172 owned by the Windsor Flying Club crashed early Tuesday morning. The plane was found just off the side of a runway at Nashville International Airport, according to the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority.

Callan had been flying planes for years, according to Quenneville.

Officials say the plane caught on fire after it crashed.

The Windsor Flying Club said in a statement that the plane was “rented and flown by a club member.”

Club president David Gillies said the person who rented the plane filed a flight plan to fly the plane from the club to Pelee Island. He was to return the plane by noon Tuesday. The plane was never returned.

Gillies said he was not aware of any flight plan that included a trip to Nashville.

“To fly from there to Nashville would require not just the flight plan but some very complicated arrangements with the American authorities to cross the border. I’m assuming he may have done that.  He may not have,” Gillies said. "He would have had to open a new flight plan before leaving Pelee Island.”

Gillies said the pilot was a flying club member in good standing who “never had an incident with our planes.” Gillies said he was qualified to fly at night.

“He has done this before, where he’s left at 8 p.m. and come back at noon the next day,” Gillies said.

Jay Neylon, the air safety investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board in the U.S. said it said he is unsure if the plane landed on Pelee Island. He said he has “no idea” about the plane’s flight path beyond Pelee Island.

According to the FAA, the pilot would have had to register through the online Electronic Advance Passenger Information System, giving American authorities notice he planned on flying into the States.

Prior to 9/11, the U.S. Customs Service, now part of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) received advance passenger information from air carriers on a voluntary basis.

As a result of 9/11 Commission recommendations, Congress mandated that the Department of Homeland Security establish a requirement to receive advance information on international passengers travelling by air and sea, prior to their departure.