A small plane was damaged, but no one was hurt when the aircraft landed Thursday night at Habersham County Airport without its landing gear down.
Interim Airport Manager Josh Hall says he was notified that a single-engine Bonanza was going to make a gear-up landing.
“Once I found out about that, I issued a NOTAM for a temporary runway closure,” Hall says.
A NOTAM is a notice that alerts pilots to changes in flight or airport conditions.
Hall notified Habersham E-911 Dispatch as he made his way to the airport. The Baldwin Fire Department responded just after 7:30 p.m. to check the situation to ensure there were no hazards.
“There were no injuries with the aircraft incident,” Hall said. “Fire department came out to make sure we didn’t have any gas leaking or any other kind of fluids that needed to be taken care of. They were on scene when I arrived.”
The plane sustained significant damage, including a bent propeller, but no one was injured.
“The aircraft was lifted up on a hoist and the gear was dropped down, and at that point, the airplane was removed from the runway and taken back to the hangar,” Hall said.
The landing scraped the surface of the runway. The airport remained closed for about an hour as crews cleared broken glass from the runway.
“Once we had all that done, the NOTAM office was called and removed the airport closure,” Hall said.
The airport notified the FAA in Atlanta of the incident first thing Friday morning. Habersham County will not release the pilot’s name or details about those involved in the incident. Now Habersham has reached out to federal investigators for more information.
