A single-engine plane made an emergency landing on a busy Gainesville road Monday, striking three vehicles and causing minor injuries during the lunch hour rush.
The aircraft, a 2010 Hawker Beechcraft BE-36, touched down around 12:10 p.m. at the intersection of Browns Bridge Road and Pearl Nix Parkway after experiencing engine trouble shortly after takeoff from Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport.
“We lost our engine taking off out of Gainesville and realized, tried to glide back, did everything by the book, but realized we weren’t gonna make it back with how far out we were, so we came down the road,” said the pilot, Thomas Rogers.
Gainesville Police Capt. Kevin Holbrook said the plane was attempting to return to the airport after the pilot noticed a loss of engine power. During the landing, the plane struck three cars and dislodged a fuel tank into the back of an SUV.
“The fact that this plane came down, did not strike any power poles, any power lines, and only hit three vehicles is absolutely remarkable,” Holbrook said.
One witness, Jacob Hunt, general manager of TitleMax, described the sound of the impact as “a shriek” and “the scraping of the asphalt”.
“It just sounds like a couple car crashes all in one boom,” Hunt said.
Emergency crews transported two people to Northeast Georgia Medical Center with minor injuries.
The two individuals on board the plane, identified by authorities as an experienced pilot and a student pilot, were not seriously injured and remained on-site to assist investigators.
Browns Bridge Road, a major artery through Northeast Georgia, remained closed for several hours as the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration began their investigation.
No word on how much damage the plane caused.
The incident remains under investigation.
