Three people were killed Friday when their single-engine plane crashed into a ravine shortly after takeoff in Gainesville, Georgia, officials said.
The plane, a single-engine Cessna-182, crashed about two miles northeast of Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport in Gainesville shortly after takeoff, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Emma Duncan in a statement to CNN.
Hall County Fire Service responded to the crash around 6 p.m. ET and found three adult occupants deceased, Hall County Fire Service Division Chief Zach Brackett told CNN in an email.
The flight was headed to Daytona Beach, Florida, he said.
Gainesville is about 60 miles northeast of Atlanta and the county seat of Hall County.
Wing falls into home
The wing of the plane fell into the bedroom of a mobile home near the crash scene as the family living there ate their dinner, said Gainesville Fire Division Chief Keith Smith at a news conference.
“The occupants of the trailer were actually having dinner at the time when the wing came through their roof and landed in one of the bedrooms,” Smith said. “Thankfully, no one was in the bedroom at the time.”
A 911 call came in shortly after 6 p.m. from a passerby who noticed debris on the roadway and saw more plane debris when they looked into the wooded area across the street, according to Smith.
The debris field extends about a quarter to a half-mile, Brackett told CNN in an email. Brackett said that five people were displaced in the incident due to fuel falling on their home but were not injured.
The Hall County Sheriff’s Office is handling the death investigation, Brackett said. CNN has reached out to the Sheriff’s Office for more information.
Both the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, Duncan said.
