8:45 P.M. MONDAY UPDATE:
Browns Bridge Road reopened early Monday evening, some eight hours after it was closed at Pearl Nix Parkway when a small plane made an emergency landing at the intersection.
Gainesville Police say only minor injuries occurred when the plane’s engine went dead shortly after take-off just after noon from the Gainesville airport on a flight to Canton. The plane hit at least one vehicle.
By one count early Monday evening the story has had generated more than 1,000 comments on social media, many of them humorous in nature, but others expressing surprise that it wasn’t as serious as it could have been and express thanks that that was the case.
The pilot, meanwhile, telling ABC-TV News he was sure he was about to die, and had asked air traffic controllers to tell his wife and other loved ones that he loved them. Other national news organizations also picked up the story.
It will now be up to the National Transportation Safety Board to try and determine what caused the engine to shut down.
4:30 P.M. MONDAY UPDATE:
According to Georgia 511, Brown’s Bridge Road is still closed in both directions due to the plane’s emergency landing.
The pilot says the plane’s engine quit just after takeoff from Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport and he was trying to get back to the airport, but saw he couldn’t make it in time, so he landed on Browns Bridge Road near the Pearl Nix Parkway intersection. The plane struck three vehicles but there are reports, so far, of only minor injuries.
One person who was at the crossroads posted his reaction on social media:
“I was enjoying lunch at the Golden Corral…and heard a crash…75 feet closer and it would have hit the building where I was sitting.”
1:30 P.M. MONDAY GAINESVILLE POLICE FACEBOOK POST:
𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘁- 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗵
Browns Bridge Road @ Pearl Nix Parkway closed for plane crash.
A single engine plane conducted an emergency landing in the roadway, crashing into multiple vehicles. Minor injuries are reported.
Please expect extended traffic delays.