Georgia · Upson County · Aviation

Thomaston-Upson County Airport Plane Accident, Upson County GA: Piper Lance Skids Off Runway Near Rocky Bottom Road, Airport Shut Down

A 1977 Piper Lance came down on its belly at the Thomaston-Upson County Airport about 2:30 p.m. Friday, ran off the end of the runway near Rocky Bottom Road and struck an antenna, the Upson County Sheriff’s Office said. Both people aboard were uninjured, WGXA reported. The propeller was damaged, the FAA was contacted and the airport was shut down until further notice.

What happened at the Thomaston-Upson County Airport?

A small airplane skidded down the runway at the Thomaston-Upson County Airport on Friday afternoon, ran off the end of it and struck an antenna, the Upson County Sheriff’s Office said. Nobody was hurt.

It happened at around 2:30 p.m. at the runway’s north end, off Rocky Bottom Road, WGXA reported.

The aircraft was a 1977 Piper Lance, a single-engine plane with retractable landing gear. It had flown out of Cherokee County and stopped in Upson County to refuel before continuing to Sebastian, Florida, the sheriff’s office said.

The pilot said the landing gear was up on takeoff and that the airplane did not develop enough lift to clear the runway’s end, WSB-TV reported.

He tried to lower the wheels again but ran out of time, and the airplane settled onto the pavement and skidded. It ran off the end of the runway and hit an antenna.

The impact damaged the airplane’s propeller. Two people were on board and neither was hurt.

The FAA was contacted and investigators were responding to conduct an investigation, the sheriff’s office said Friday afternoon. The airfield was shut down until further notice.

What is the Thomaston-Upson County Airport?

It is a publicly owned general-aviation airport about 5 miles northeast of Thomaston, open to the public and carrying the FAA identifier OPN, according to the FAA records published by AirNav. It is owned by the Thomaston-Upson County Airport Authority and sits on Delray Road, FOX 5 Atlanta reported.

The field has one asphalt runway, 12/30, measuring 6,350 by 100 feet and laid out northwest to southeast. Both 100LL and Jet-A are sold there, which is what a stop like this one is for.

General aviation is the part of flying that is neither airline nor military: privately owned singles and light twins, business aircraft, flight training and the like. A field of this size handles that traffic and no scheduled passenger service.

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What does it mean that the landing gear was retracted on takeoff?

A Piper Lance has retractable gear. Once the airplane is off the ground and climbing, the pilot folds the wheels up into the airframe to cut drag, which on a normal departure happens within seconds of the tires leaving the pavement.

The trade is that the airplane is then committed to the climb. If it settles back toward the runway before the gear is out again, and the wheels take several seconds to travel, it arrives on its belly.

That is the sequence the pilot described: the gear came up, the climb did not develop, and the attempt to put the wheels back down ran out of runway first.

A single like the Lance hangs its propeller close to the ground even with the gear extended. Take the wheels away and the turning blades are the first thing to reach the pavement, which is why a bent prop is the signature damage of a gear-up landing and why the engine behind it is treated as suspect afterward.

What does the FAA do after an accident like this?

The Federal Aviation Administration is the agency that regulates civil flying in the United States. It certificates pilots, mechanics and aircraft, writes the rules for how flights are conducted, and enforces them.

When an accident is reported at a field like this one, FAA inspectors respond, document the aircraft and the site, and collect the pilot, aircraft and maintenance records that go with it. Their questions run toward compliance: was the airplane airworthy, was the pilot current and qualified, were the rules followed.

The National Transportation Safety Board is a separate and independent agency, and it is the one that assigns a probable cause and publishes a public accident report. Its questions run toward causation rather than compliance, and its reports take months.

In this accident the sheriff’s office said Friday afternoon that the FAA was contacted and that investigators were responding to conduct an investigation. The agency had not released any preliminary finding on why the airplane lost lift on takeoff, FOX 5 Atlanta reported.

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What does an airport being shut down until further notice mean?

At a general-aviation field there is no airline schedule to break, so a closure strands no ticketed passengers. What it stops is everything else that uses the runway that day: private and business flights, training flights, and any aircraft planning to drop in for fuel.

Closures reach pilots through a NOTAM, a Notice to Air Missions filed against the airport identifier. Checking them is part of preflight planning, and a field published as closed is one pilots are expected to plan around.

Reopening is the call of the airport’s owner and management rather than the FAA, and in practice the runway environment has to be clear of the aircraft and any debris, and the on-scene work finished, before normal operations resume.

Ownership shapes that timeline. The field is publicly owned by the Thomaston-Upson County Airport Authority, according to its FAA airport record, so reopening is a local decision rather than a state or federal one.

The other factor is that the airport has only one runway, and every operation there uses it. That is the practical reason a single disabled airplane closes the field outright instead of traffic moving to another strip: there is nowhere else to move it.

Until the airplane is cleared and the surface and its edges have been checked, the authority has nothing to reopen. That work is separate from the cause investigation, which can continue long after the runway is back in use.

What don’t we know yet about the Thomaston airport accident?

What else are people asking about the Thomaston airport accident?

What happened at the Thomaston-Upson County Airport?
A small airplane skidded down the runway on its belly at about 2:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026, ran off the end of the runway and struck an antenna, the Upson County Sheriff’s Office said. The airfield was shut down.

Was anyone hurt in the Thomaston plane accident?
No. Two people were aboard and neither was injured, the Upson County Sheriff’s Office said.

What kind of plane was it?
A 1977 Piper Lance (PA-32R), a single-engine airplane with retractable landing gear.

Where was the plane going?
Sebastian, Florida. The airplane had flown out of Cherokee County and stopped at the Thomaston-Upson County Airport to refuel, the sheriff’s office said.

Why did the plane skid down the runway?
The pilot said the landing gear was up on takeoff and that the airplane did not develop enough lift to clear the runway’s end. He tried to lower the wheels again but ran out of time, and the airplane settled onto the pavement and skidded.

What was damaged?
The airplane’s propeller was damaged by the impact, the sheriff’s office said.

Is the Thomaston-Upson County Airport open?
The Upson County Sheriff’s Office said Friday afternoon that the airport was shut down until further notice. No reopening time has been given.

Who is investigating the Thomaston plane accident?
The Federal Aviation Administration. The sheriff’s office said the FAA was contacted and that investigators were responding to conduct an investigation.

More Upson County reports are collected at The Local Alert’s Upson County page, and other Georgia aviation coverage is at the aviation page, including a Piper that went down in trees at Elliott Field in Dawson County earlier this month.