The National Transportation Safety Board released an aviation accident preliminary report on a fatal crash near Bartow County that occurred on October 13th.
A light aircraft departed from Gainesville Regional Airport in Florida en route to Tom B. David Field Airport in Calhoun when it impacted terrain near the Paulding County/Bartow County border east of Lucas Road at around 2:30 that Saturday afternoon. The pilot, 70-year-old Paul Lewis Deep of Middleburg, Florida, was the only person onboard and fatally injured. The plane was destroyed.
Visual meteorological conditions were good. No flight plan had been filed.
The initial point of impact was located on the embankment of a ravine, next to a high-tension power line right of way. The aircraft struck the ground at an approximate 90ยบ nose-down flight attitude. Prior to impacting the ground, the airplane impacted the outboard bundle of high-tension wires and branches of a tree.
The initial impact point on the north side embankment contained pieces of the propeller spinner and windscreen. The main wreckage, consisting of the engine, wings, fuselage, and tail, came to rest at the bottom of the embankment in a muddy ravine.