Georgia Plane Crash After Aircraft Glides Down Between Golden Corral and Pizza Hut

A plane came down on Browns Bridge Road in Gainesville on Monday afternoon, smashing into three cars before stopping right between a Golden Corral and a Pizza Hut. The pilot, Thomas Rogers, had just taken off from Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport when his engine packed in. Rogers tried getting back to the airport but knew pretty quickly he wasn't going to make it.

'We lost our engine taking off out of Gainesville and tried to glide back, did everything by the book, but realised we weren't going to make it back with how far out we were, so we came down on the road,' he said. He said he didn't get hurt, which is honestly incredible given what happened. The single-engine plane hit the ground at Browns Bridge Road and Pearl Nix Parkway. Police Captain Kevin Holbrook said Rogers was trying to get back when he ran out of options. 'It's believed that the plane was attempting to make it back to the Gainesville airport when the pilot realised he was not going to make it. He attempted to make an emergency landing on Browns Bridge Road. Fortunately, he did make the landing, but struck three vehicles in the process.'

Minor Injuries Reported

Police said there were minor injuries but haven't given specifics on how many people got hurt. Photos from the scene show the 2010 Beechcraft Hawker G-36, which had been flying in from Tennessee, sitting smack in the middle of the road with the two restaurants clearly visible on either side—not exactly where you'd expect to see an aircraft on a Monday afternoon.

Gainesville Police shut down the whole intersection and told people to expect serious traffic delays. The Hall County Sheriff's Office sent deputies out to help manage the chaos. The road stayed closed for hours while emergency services dealt with everything and investigators started trying to work out exactly what went wrong with the engine.

Things Could Have Been Worse

Landing a plane on a busy street is about as dangerous as it gets, but somehow Rogers managed to bring it down without anyone getting killed or seriously injured. When your engine quits, you've got seconds to figure out where you're going to put the plane down. The airport's the obvious choice, but if that's not happening, you look for the next best thing—usually a road.

The fact that injuries were only minor, despite hitting three vehicles, suggests Rogers kept his head and brought the plane down as smoothly as possible under the circumstances. That takes great skill when you're basically flying a glider at that point.

Investigation Under Way

The FAA and NTSB will be investigating what caused the engine failure. Small plane engines can fail for all sorts of reasons—bad fuel, mechanical issues, running out of petrol, you name it. Investigators will go through Rogers' plane with a fine-toothed comb, checking maintenance logs and testing whatever fuel might still be in the tank.

Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport sits in a pretty built-up part of Gainesville, which meant Rogers didn't have many good options when his engine died. No empty fields nearby, just roads and buildings and businesses. He had to make a choice fast, and he chose the road over risking a crash into something worse.

The NTSB will want to know everything—when the plane was last serviced, what kind of engine it has, whether there were any previous issues, what the weather was like, how much fuel was on board. They'll interview Rogers, talk to witnesses, examine the wreckage. It's a thorough process that can take months.

For now, the plane's still sitting where it landed. Gainesville Police said they'll update everyone as the investigation goes on. Rogers is probably counting his blessings—and so are the people in those three cars he hit. When a plane drops out of the sky onto a busy road, minor injuries is about the best outcome anyone could hope for.

Originally published on IBTimes UK