A pilot who died when his small plane crashed in Paulding County over the weekend was identified Monday as a 70-year-old man from Florida.
Paul Lewis Deep, from Middleburg, Fla., crashed Saturday afternoon in a ditch next to transmission power lines in a “very rural area” of northern Paulding County, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Deep was flying his Piper PA-28-180 from Gainesville, Fla., to Calhoun, Channel 2 Action News reported. He was the only person on the plane.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash.
Sheriff’s deputies found the plane around 5 p.m. while surveying damage to the power lines. A deputy had previously been called to the scene around 3:45 p.m. about possible damage to the lines, but he did not come across the plane, the sheriff’s office said.
Deep was flying to Georgia to visit his grandchildren and other family, WJXT in Jacksonville reported. He was a Navy veteran who fought in the Vietnam War and deeply enjoyed flying, the news station reported. He worked at the local American Legion post.
“He was a person I could go to if I needed to talk to somebody,” Post Commander Richard Rowe, one of Deep’s friends, told WJXT. “He would sit in my office and we would talk. I don’t know what else to say. I’m going to miss him; the whole post is.”
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