As the investigation into the emergency landing that was made at a busy Gainesville intersection Monday kicks into high gear, a website that tracks flights nationwide is offering new insight into what happened.
FlightAware shows the plane, a single-engine Hawker Beechcraft E-36, with two people aboard, left Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport in Gainesville at 12:05 p.m. The flight path shows the plane steadily climbing and making a left turn not long after takeoff. It’s intended destination was Canton in Cherokee County to the west of Gainesville.
The tracking shows the plane gaining altitude at what appears to be a normal rate of climb. That is, until it reaches about 3,000 feet. That’s when the “engine failure” alarm sounded and the pilot, while sending out a “mayday, mayday” call to air traffic controllers, immediately made a sharp left-hand turn which put him on an eastward course back toward Gainesville and the airport.
At the same time, the tracking shows the now-powerless plane rapidly losing altitude. Five minutes after taking off, the plane glided into the intersection of Browns Bridge Road and Pearl Nix Parkway, slamming into several cars before coming to rest. Only minor injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, the story of what happened continues to gain traction nationwide, not only through the major TV networks, as we reported Monday night, but with many local news outlets around the country, many through their affiliation with Associated Press which also picked up the story.