Pilots survive crash landing
A failed takeoff Saturday afternoon led to a plane crash at the Calhoun airport.
According to Tom B. David Airport Manager Dwight Albritton, a small propeller-driven aircraft with two pilots on board experienced a mechanical issue during an attempted takeoff.
“A locally-owned Mooney M20-C aircraft based here at Calhoun suffered an engine failure immediately after takeoff on our southbound runway,” Albritton said.
The incident occurred just after 1 p.m., and was at a point on the runway without enough asphalt left to make a normal safe landing, according to Albritton.
“The pilots quickly lowered the landing gear and landed back on the runway with very little pavement remaining,” Albritton said. “The aircraft skidded off the remaining pavement into the grass and over an embankment on the south end of the runway. The aircraft came to a stop about 300 feet south of the runway.”
When the plane began to lose power, it was still over the runway, according
to Calhoun Police Department reports. Due to flight speed the plane was unable to be slowed or stopped before the end of Runway 35. It left the south end of the runway and traveled on grass until hitting an embankment. The aircraft then came to a rest and caught fire. The two men aboard the aircraft were able to escape, and their injuries were not life threatening.
“Both pilots got out under their
own power,” Albritton said. “One pilot went to the hospital complaining of some lower back pain.”
According to Calhoun Police Department reports, the pilot in command of the aircraft was Marc Channing Worley, 50, of Woodstock. The aircraft was a fixed-wing single-engine M20-C manufactured in 1965, according to reports.
There were no injuries reported to anyone on the ground, and no major damage to surrounding property other than evidence of the incident on the runway and in the grass near the crash scene where the aircraft was eventually destroyed by fire.
“The aircraft caught fire and burned substantially,” Albritton said. “It was quickly extinguished by the Calhoun Fire Department.”
The airport’s runway was able to reopen early Saturday evening.
The Federal Aviation Administration was notified of the crash shortly after it occurred.