May 21, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
Two people escaped serious injury after their single engine plane went down Sunday afternoon in an open field near Old Temperance Hall Road in DeKalb County.
According to Sheriff Patrick Ray, the pilot was 61-year-old Eric Garrison of Powell, Tennessee and 60-year-old Debbie Cook of Knoxville was the passenger. Garrison sustained a minor injury. Cook was not hurt.
“DeKalb Central Dispatch received a call from the Nashville Approach Air Traffic Control at 2:50 p.m. that stated a plane had gone down around the Old Temperance Hall Road area,” said Sheriff Ray.
“DeKalb EMS, the Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad, the DeKalb County Fire Department, and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department responded to the Old Temperance Hall Road address,” he continued.
“The pilot said he was flying in a 1966 fixed wing Piper Cherokee 180 when the engine failed. A witness on the ground in the Old Temperance Hall Road area observed that the plane appeared to be in distress, and he saw it go down. The witness reached the plane on a Side-By-Side and helped get the pilot and passenger out of the plane. He also helped bring emergency personnel to the scene and then returned them all to the roadway,” said Sheriff Ray.
“According to the pilot, he filled up with fuel in Knoxville, flew to Nashville, and was on his way back to the Seymour Airport in East Tennessee when the plane went down in DeKalb County,” he said.
“I want to thank Central Dispatch and the responding agencies that came to help us,” Sheriff Ray concluded.