The name of an approximately 80-year-old man critically injured in Friday afternoon’s ultralight aircraft crash at Mountain Air Park south of Cleveland has not been released yet.
The incident was reported at 1:07 p.m. at the private grass runway, located off Airport Road in a rural part of White County.
“Witnesses stated that the aircraft took off, making a hard left bank and came down, and as the aircraft came down, it struck a roof of a building and into the adjacent driveway," said White County Public Safety Director David Murphy.
“We’re still under investigation as to exactly what happened,” Murphy said. “We have notified the NTSB and the FAA.”
Notifying the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration is standard after an aircraft incident resulting in serious injuries.
“They did have a fuel leak on the aircraft, and we’ve got it secured,” Murphy said. “We’ve got the power shut off to the aircraft. It will remain on site and in its current position until the FAA and the NTSB do an investigation.”
Murphy said officials do know the identity of the pilot, who was airlifted to the trauma center at Northeast Georgia Medical Center, but they are not releasing his name yet pending notification of family members.
