Authorities say runway damage needs only minor repairs

ELLIJAY, Ga. – According to the Directors of both Public Safety and Public Works, Gilmer County may see minimal to no immediate costs for repairs to the Gilmer Airport runway after this week’s incident.

After a single-engine Super Decathlon crashed on the runway on Monday, authorities have been dealing with the incident, the pilot, and an FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) investigation.

Today, in a Board of Commissioners meeting, Public Works Director Jim Smith said that it appears that the incident is not due to a fault in the airport. Although he said it could have been caused by something like pilot error, he told FYN that he had no specific details or answers as the FAA is in charge of the investigation.

When asked about the runway damages, Smith said that the Public Works Department has engineers looking at the area as minor surface damage including small grooves that had been sustained by the runway. Smith said that the damages would be covered by the insurance of the pilot.

Additionally, FYN reported that a runway light had been damaged during the issue. According to Public Safety Director Keith Kucera, a light was struck, but it only damaged the lens and did not completely destroy the light. As such, the airport keeps spare lenses for minor replacements as needed, so the light repair was handled by the airport crew.

Kucera also said that the cause of the incident was not in the information available to him as the FAA performed all the interviews and investigation and he was not a part of that process.

Smith said that Public Works could fill in the scratches and grooves with a rubberized caulk material similar to what citizens might see on highway cracks. He indicated that the runway was fine for use either way as the FAA reported yesterday that the facility and runway were cleared for use. However, he did note that the FAA inspector pointed out that repairs may be needed for these areas. He reiterated that they are awaiting the engineers to inspect the site and report back.

With damage assessments able to be handled in-house, the county has not seen any immediate damages costs from the incidents. This along with the fact that both occupants of the plane were able to walk away from the crash with only minor injuries, the largest part of the accident seems to be the plane itself that, according to current understanding, lost part of its landing gear and had its prop hit the runway before