Trending

Pilot walks away with minor injury after plane crashes into tree

A Federal Aviation Administration recovery team has dismantled a small vintage plane and hauled it away after it crashed in Dawsonville, Georgia, on Sunday afternoon.

The FAA said the two-seater plane, which was built in the 1940s, crashed just after noon along the side of the road.

>> Read more trending stories

The only person on the plane survived the crash with only minor injuries.

"I heard a big thud and then I heard tires screeching," Dawsonville resident Tom Carry told WSB TV.

Carry said he had been working in his yard when he thought he heard a car crash. He ran down the road to help and that's when he saw the plane.

"I see the tail of a plane sticking way up in the air," Carry said. "My reaction was, 'Oh my God, I hope he's OK,' because it was a pretty heavy hit he took."

There had beenonly one person on board the plane. Firefighters said the man was a pilot from Iowa.

"I was walking up as he was getting out of the plane," Carry told Klaus.

Carry said the pilot was in shock. His nose was cut, and he was bleeding. Paramedics tended to him.

"I went over and said, 'Good landing. You made it. You're OK.' And he smiled and gave me the thumbs-up," Carry said.

Firefighters talked with the man. They say he bought the plane recently in Cleveland, Georgia.

"The plane was just purchased over the last few days, and he was en route back to Iowa to his hometown," Dawson County firefighter Lamar Adkins said. "He experienced some engine failure difficulties and had to make an emergency landing."

The pilot was released from the hospital Sunday afternoon. Several hours later, an FAA recovery team took the plane apart.

"He's a very lucky individual because he put it down in a tight area," Adkins said.

"I would have to say that he's just very fortunate. Very fortunate," Carry said. "Somebody was looking out for him up above, probably."