A plane crashed near Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport in Gainesville Saturday evening, killing one person and seriously injuring another.
Gainesville Police Sergeant Kevin Holbrook said the single-engine plane crashed in an embankment off of Queen City Parkway near Aviation Boulevard on the north side of the airport. He said initial investigations show that the plane was trying to land at the airport when it crashed.
"It struck some tree tops just prior to Queen City Parkway and then from there it struck a lighting antenna tower and then struck the ground from there," Holbrook said.
Holbrook said two people were taken by ambulance to Northeast Georgia Medical Center with critical injuries. He later said that one of the two patients, an adult male, died of his injuries. No one else was on board the plane and no one on the ground was injured.
As of 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Holbrook said that officials with the Federal Aviation Administration were on their way to the scene to investigate. The scene also led to Queen City Parkway being shut down near the intersection of Aviation Boulevard for around an hour and a half. It was re-opened just before 8:30.
The name of the man killed and the other person injured have not been released. As of Saturday night, Holbrook said that Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport remained closed due to the investigation.
