Crime & Safety

Plane Lands on GA 400 South of the Outlet Mall In Dawson County

Pilot and passenger escape injury.

The pilot of a small plane walked away uninjured after having to make an emergency plane landing in the median off Georgia 400 south of Dawson Forest Road in Dawson County mid-morning Sunday.

Around 10:45 a.m. a call came into the 911 Call Center that a plane was possibly having mechanical problems, according to Tim Satterfield, Deputy Chief of Operations of Dawson County Emergency Services.

“Shortly after that we received numerous calls into 911 that the plane had touched down in the median of 400,” said Satterfield. “Our units arrived on the scene, the hatch of the plane was open, and the pilot and passenger had got out.”

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Satterfield said, “they went through their emergency protocol by shutting off the fuel to the aircraft and battery power to the aircraft. They did not strike anything, kept it in the median. There were no injuries to the pilot or his passenger.”

William Reister, 53, of Dunwoody, was the pilot and is the owner of the plane, a Lancair 320 fixed-wing single-engine plane. He declined to speak about the incident Sunday afternoon, saying he first had to speak to the FAA.

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Resiter took off from Briscoe Field in Gwinnett County Sunday morning. The FAA is conducting an investigation into the accident.

Dunwoody Patch Editor Peter Cox contributed to this story

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