Georgia · Dawson County · Aviation

North Georgia Plane Crash: 2 Critically Injured at Elliott Field in Dawsonville After Chattanooga Flight Goes Down in Trees

A single-engine Piper that left Chattanooga late Sunday morning lost engine power and went into the woods northeast of Bill Elliott's private airstrip in Dawson County. Both men aboard survived. Both are now expected to recover.

What happened in the north Georgia plane crash?

Two men were critically injured when a small plane that had taken off from Chattanooga crashed into trees at Elliott Field, a private airstrip near Dawsonville in Dawson County, shortly before noon on Sunday, Aug. 9, 2026. Both survived. Both are now expected to recover, and the NTSB is investigating.

Dawson County Fire and Emergency Services found one man outside the aircraft and a second heavily entrapped in the wreckage, according to WSB-TV and CBS News Atlanta.

Crews began treating the man who was out of the plane while a rescue team cut the second man free. One patient went to a hospital by ground ambulance. The other was airlifted.

The wreckage came down in a wooded area northeast of the runway, near Georgia 183. Responders staged off Mildred Elliott Road, Dawson County News reported. No one on the ground was hurt.

What is the timeline of the Dawsonville plane crash?

Local 3 News, citing a flight tracker, reported the plane took off at and was tracked until — a flight of about 33 minutes. The two men were headed to a golf outing, the Chattanoogan reported.

Sequence assembled from named outlet reporting and the NTSB's initial statement. The order of events is preliminary and may change when the NTSB publishes its factual report.

Where is Elliott Field, and who owns it?

Elliott Field is a privately owned airstrip off Elliott Family Parkway, about 4 miles northwest of Dawsonville. Its FAA identifier is 09GE. It is not a commercial airport — no terminal, no scheduled flights, no tower.

It belongs to Bill Elliott, the NASCAR Hall of Famer, who built it decades ago behind the family property. Elliott told reporters he has no connection to the aircraft that crashed.

Per AirNav's FAA-sourced record for 09GE, the field sits at 1,497 feet elevation with a single asphalt runway 14/32 measuring 5,619 feet by 40 feet — long, but unusually narrow, and the record flags the pavement as being in poor condition.

The accident site is in woods northeast of the runway, in the approach corridor toward Georgia 183. Coordinates for the field: 34.4584° N, 84.1804° W.

The field has also been the subject of a long-running local effort to buy it and convert it into a public general aviation airport for Dawson County — an impasse that has run for roughly a decade and that this accident has pushed back into the conversation.

What kind of plane crashed in Dawson County?

The NTSB identified the aircraft as a Piper PA-32-300 — the six-seat, single-engine model sold as the Cherokee Six. It is a common privately owned touring aircraft, not an airliner and not a charter jet.

What caused the north Georgia plane crash?

No cause has been determined. That is the honest answer, and it will stay the answer for a long time.

What exists right now is an early on-scene account. Bill Elliott said the plane lost its motor and was trying to reach the airstrip when it went down.FOX 5 Atlanta reported residents heard the engine cut out before the aircraft descended into the pines.

That is a witness-level description, not a finding. Loss of engine power is a symptom. Fuel, ignition, a mechanical failure inside the engine, or something else entirely can all produce it, and only teardown and records review separate them.

The NTSB will publish what it establishes. Until then, treat any stated cause — including this one — as provisional.

Are the two men going to be OK?

Both men left the scene in critical condition and both underwent surgery, the Chattanoogan reported. In an update, Dawson County News reported that both are expected to recover.

Neither man has been publicly identified. Both have been described as adult men from Lookout Mountain.

That outcome is worth pausing on. A single-engine aircraft that loses power and ends up in trees is a scenario with a wide range of outcomes, and this one landed on the survivable end of it.

Who is investigating, and when will we know why?

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading and is coordinating with the FAA. Dawson County Fire and Emergency Services handled the rescue. This is a federal investigation, not a county one — which is the single biggest difference between an aviation accident and a highway accident in Georgia.

A preliminary report is expected in about 30 days. It carries factual information only — what the aircraft was, where it came down, what the wreckage showed. It does not say why.

The "why" arrives in the final report, and those routinely take 12 to 24 months. Families and reporters who expect an answer in a month are usually reading the wrong document.

Which records exist, who holds them, and which ones a family can actually obtain depends entirely on which agency worked which part of the response. Getting that wrong burns weeks.

How dangerous is general aviation flying?

General aviation — private, non-airline flying, the category this Piper falls into — carries a far higher accident rate than scheduled airlines, but the trend has been moving the right way.

In 2023, general aviation logged 1,097 accidents, of which 186 were fatal, across roughly 28.4 million flight hours. That works out to 3.86 total accidents and 0.65 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours — both the lowest of the preceding five years, according to NTSB data compiled in the AOPA Air Safety Institute's Richard G. McSpadden Report.

Source: NTSB accident data compiled in the AOPA Air Safety Institute Richard G. McSpadden Report. Rates are per 100,000 flight hours. Bar lengths are proportional to the total-accident rate.

Nationally, NTSB preliminary estimates put total U.S. civil aviation accidents at 1,201 in 2024, down from 1,216 in 2023, with 321 deaths versus 327 the year before — figures published through the agency's U.S. Civil Aviation Accident Dashboard. The FAA reported that 2024 produced the lowest general aviation fatal accident rate since the agency began tracking it in 2009.

On the specific failure reported here: among roughly 187 mechanical-related non-commercial fixed-wing accidents in 2023, total loss of engine power led the list, followed by partial power loss and system component failures, per the McSpadden Report. One counterintuitive finding in that data — partial power loss produced more fatalities than complete engine failure, which analysts attribute to how much harder a half-running engine is to manage than a clearly dead one.

Context matters here too: about 70% of general aviation accidents are attributed to pilot-related causes, not mechanical ones, and landing is the single most common phase of flight for an accident — 329 of them in 2023 — while also being among the least fatal.

What we don't know yet

This page will be updated as the NTSB and named outlets release more. Nothing above is filled in by inference.

If you or your family were on board

An aviation injury does not follow the path a car accident follows, and the biggest mistake families make is assuming it does.

There is no trooper report landing in a few business days. The federal factual report is about a month out, the probable-cause finding is a year or two out, and which agency holds which piece of the response record depends on who worked which part of the scene.

Meanwhile the calls start almost immediately. Attention: you are not required to give a recorded statement to anyone while you are still in a hospital bed or still waiting on facts.

Frequently asked questions

Where did the north Georgia plane crash happen?
In trees northeast of Elliott Field, a privately owned airstrip about 4 miles northwest of Dawsonville in Dawson County. The wreckage was in woods near Georgia 183, and crews reached the scene from Mildred Elliott Road.

What kind of plane crashed in Dawson County?
A Piper PA-32-300 — the six-seat single-engine model known as the Cherokee Six. The NTSB identified the type. The Aviation Safety Network lists the registration as N3011X.

Where did the flight take off from?
Chattanooga. Local 3 News, citing a flight tracker, reported the plane departed at and was tracked until on Sunday, Aug. 9, 2026.

How many people were hurt?
Two. Both were adult men described as being from Lookout Mountain. Both were critically injured.

Are the two men going to be OK?
Later reporting says yes. Both underwent surgery, and Dawson County News reported that both are expected to recover. Neither has been publicly identified.

What caused the accident?
No cause has been determined. Elliott Field owner Bill Elliott said the plane lost its motor and was trying to land at the strip. That is an early account, not an NTSB finding.

Who owns Elliott Field in Dawsonville?
NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott. It is a private airstrip, FAA identifier 09GE, not a commercial airport. Elliott said he has no connection to the aircraft.

Who is investigating the Dawsonville plane crash?
The NTSB is leading and coordinating with the FAA. Dawson County Fire and Emergency Services handled the rescue.

When will the NTSB say what happened?
A preliminary report is expected in about 30 days and contains factual information only. Probable cause comes in the final report, typically 12 to 24 months out.

How often do small planes accident in the United States?
General aviation recorded 1,097 accidents in 2023, including 186 fatal, at rates of 3.86 and 0.65 per 100,000 flight hours — the lowest of the previous five years, per NTSB data in the AOPA McSpadden Report.

Is engine failure a common cause of small plane crashs?
It is the leading mechanical cause. Of roughly 187 mechanical-related non-commercial fixed-wing accidents in 2023, total loss of engine power led the list. Most general aviation accidents overall are still attributed to pilot-related causes.

Was anyone on the ground hurt?
No. The plane went into a wooded area rather than a structure or a roadway.