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After emergency plane landing in Macon Co. cow pasture, pilot unharmed


Photo: P. Hall
Photo: P. Hall
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Macon County Emergency Services responded Friday morning to a plane crash on the east side of U.S. 441/Highway 23/Georgia Road, just south of the visitors' center.

"Obviously there is still an investigation underway into what happened, but the initial report was that there was perhaps engine failure. The pilot was attempting to make an emergency landing and ended up crashing into the field here next to the highway," said Warren Cabe, Macon County EMS director.

The plane went down around 10 a.m. and there were no serious injuries.

Pilot Doug Finner tells News 13 that he was able to get himself out of the cockpit after the plane flipped during the emergency landing, saying the seatbelt worked, and he was able to walk away with just a few minor injuries.

Finner says his single-engine rented Cessna Skycatcher, registered in Gainesville, Georgia, lost power to the engine, and he was forced to make an emergency landing in a cow pasture south of Franklin.

Highway 23 can be busy at times and is a common route for large trucks. Finner said he the plane bounced over four or five lanes while, luckily, no one was driving by.

He was trying to land in the field across the street, but, he says, when he realized the plane could clip a tree, he turned the plane and then bounced on one side of the road before the nose went into the embankment, on the other side, causing the plane to flip.

Finner was able to free himself from the upside down cockpit and only suffered a few cuts.

He left from Gainesville Georgia, destined for Macon County. He says he will soon head back to Georgia, and the plane will be towed.

The plane was a rental which Finner said he had flown on and off for the last year.

The FAA is investigating.



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