A Silver Creek man planning a marriage proposal to remember got more than he bargained for Friday when the plane he chartered to help pop the question crashed at Richard B. Russell Regional Airport shortly after 7 p.m.
The three people on board were taken to Floyd Medical Center, but their injuries did not appear life-threatening, said Tim Harrington of the Floyd County Emergency Management Agency.
“The young lady had a broken left (leg), and the pilot and boyfriend were pretty bloody, but they all got out under their own power,” he said.
Adam Sutton chartered the Cessna 127, owned by Rome Flying School, to surprise Erica Brussee with a proposal, said Joshua Willis, a lineman at the airport who is also Sutton’s cousin.
Brussee and Sutton went to Pepperell High School together. “I guess you could call them high school sweethearts. They’ve been together three years,” Willis said.
He and other relatives were gathered on the ground near a queen-sized bed sheet with the words “Erica, will you marry me?” spray-painted on it.
“When they were putting them in the ambulance, she said, ‘Tell Adam I said yes,’” Willis said. “They lost the ring, though. It’s still in the wreckage.”
The pilot, Bradley Gilbert of Lawrenceville, was circling low over the airport so Brussee could see the banner when the plane suddenly stalled, Airport Manager Mike Mathews said.
“The left wing hit the ground and spun the nose into the pavement,” Mathews said. “They’re lucky they were so low when it stalled.”
Harrington said there also was a “slight fire,” but Willis and other airport personnel had the blaze nearly extinguished by the time Rome firefighters arrived.
Floyd County police and EMA volunteers set up shifts to secure the scene. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were expected on site today.
Willis said watching the events unfold from the ground was like something out of a movie.
“I’m still in shock,” he said late Friday night. “I couldn’t believe it until everybody started screaming and running. Then I said, ‘Oh my God, this is real.’ I ran as fast as I could and grabbed an extinguisher to put the fire out. It’s kind of funny, because my cousin’s a firefighter with Gordon County.”
Sutton had a gash on his leg and a cut on his head, Willis said. Bob Cordle, owner of Rome Flight School, said Gilbert had a bloody nose and a cut on his lip.
“He was coherent when they took him to the hospital,” Cordle said. “He said, ‘Don’t tell my wife because I don’t want her driving all the way out here tonight.’”
Cordle said Gilbert has been working for him since June 1. The instructor-pilot maintains an apartment in Floyd County, and his wife had planned a visit this weekend, Cordle said.
