Pilot fell 2,500ft after plane’s cockpit opened

Search crews in rural Tennessee have found the body of a man who fell an estimated 2,500ft to his death after the cockpit canopy of his airplane opened, officials said.

“They found him in a tree line, not too far off the road,” about a half-mile from a volunteer fire station, said Bob Gault, spokesman for the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office.

Gault said he would have to wait until the National Transportation Safety Board completes an investigation before confirming reports that the man was not wearing his safety harness and that the plane had gone into a nosedive at the time of the accident late on Friday afternoon.