The plane, a Cessna-182 single-engine, crashed about two miles northeast of Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport in Gainesville shortly after takeoff, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Emma Duncan said in a statement to CNN.
Hall County firefighters responded to the accident at about 6 pm Eastern time and found three adult occupants dead, Hall fire chief Zach Brackett told CNN via email.
The flight was going to Daytona Beach, Florida, he said.
Gainesville is about 60 miles northeast of Atlanta and the county seat of Hall County.
Wing falls at home
The wing of the plane fell in the bedroom of a mobile home near the crash site while the family who lived there ate dinner, Gainesville Fire Department chief Keith Smith said at a news conference.
“The occupants of the trailer were actually having dinner by the time the wing went through the roof and landed in one of the rooms,” said Smith. “Fortunately, no one was in the room at the moment.”
A call to 911 came just after 6 pm from a passerby who noticed wreckage on the road and saw more plane wreckage when they looked at the wooded area across the street, according to Smith.
The debris field spans about 400 to 800 meters, Brackett told CNN by email. Brackett said five people were displaced in the incident due to fuel spills in their homes, but were not injured.
Hall County’s sheriff’s office is handling the death investigation, Brackett said. CNN contacted the Sheriff’s Office for more information.
Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the accident, said Duncan.