Plane crash investigators from Chattanooga headed Monday afternoon to Dayton Mountain in Rhea County to find out what caused a small, single-engine plane to crash a little after lunchtime.
Rhea County Sheriff’s Office investigator Rocky Potter said the pilot of the plane, identified as a Georgia man, survived the crash with a suspected broken arm.
Potter said the aircraft was a single-engine plane with only the pilot aboard. No one else was injured, and there was no known damage to property on the ground.
“A witness said they could hear the plane come in real low,” Potter said. The aircraft hit the ground soon afterward.
Rhea County dispatchers said the crash was reported at 12:42 p.m. by a Walkertown Road resident living near Cranfield Road.
Potter said some county officers were working on an unrelated matter nearby and were able to respond to the crash scene quickly. They met the landowner who had already opened a gate to let emergency officials reach the plane and injured pilot, he said.
Potter said the man was taken to Erlanger hospital in Chattanooga for treatment. Potter said officials at the scene said the man seemed “disoriented.”
“They say he took a heck of an impact,” Potter said.
National Transportation Safety Board officials were en route Tuesday to the crash site from Chattanooga to investigate, he said.
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