A pilot in his middle 20s and a teenage passenger escaped without life-threatening injuries when a small, single-engine plane crashed Tuesday afternoon in Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County police and firefighters said.
The plane crashed in the backyard of a home on Old Fountain Road, near Amhearst Mill Drive, around 3:18 p.m., according to police Cpl. Michele Pihera. The location is about two miles north of the Gwinnett County airport.
The pilot, a Duluth man whose name was not released, was conscious, alert and breathing after the crash and was taken to Gwinnett Medical Center for treatment, police said. The passenger, a teenager from Johns Creek, was semi-conscious and was also taken to Gwinnett Medical for treatment.
“Both occupants have non-life threatening injuries,” Pihera said in an emailed statement.
The pilot was practicing takeoffs and landings when the crash happened, according to a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration. FAA investigators were headed to the scene of the crash.
The plane grazed the roof of one home but there was no structural damage, and there was no fire from the crash, Capt. Tommy Rutledge with the fire department said. But debris from the crash was scattered along Old Fountain Road. Investigators had not determined what caused the plane to go down.
The 1971 Piper is registered to Quinn Resnick of Alpharetta, according to online FAA records. The National Transportation Safety Board was also notified of the crash.
Nearby resident Edna Mintz was preparing for Thanksgiving when she heard a loud “boom-boom.” Thinking her garage door had fallen on to the car, she left her pineapple cream cheese cake and cranberry salad to go take a look.
The garage door was intact, but she soon heard sirens. The plane was four doors down, and a wing was in her neighbor’s yard.
“It’s just a little bit too close for comfort for me,” she said.
— Staff writer Arielle Kass contributed to this article.
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