Airplane With Four Aboard Went Through A Perimeter Fence At DeKalb-Peachtree Airport After Landing

A Hawker Beechcraft 400A (similar aircraft pictured in file photo) went off a runway and through an airport fence after landing at at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (KPDK) in Decatur GA, Monday morning. Authorities reported only minor injuries among those on board the aircraft.

Television station WSB-TV reports that the plane went through a perimeter fence at the end of the runway after landing at the airport. The four on board were transported to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, according to DeKalb County Fire Chief Edward O'Brien. The flight had originated at Gadsden, AL.

Photographs of the plane show it near a road with the nose broken off in front of the cockpit. The rest of the airplane remained largely intact, but the landing gear appears to have collapsed after it left the pavement. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that aerial photos showed at least two large cracks in the fuselage. FlightAware indicates that the plane's final destination was to have been Jacksonville, FL.

Dresden Drive near the airport had to be closed for a time so that HAZMAT crews could clean up a fuel spill from the airplane. The jets' fuel tanks ruptured as a result of the accident, but there was no fire. Those on board were reportedly already clear of the airplane by the time first responders arrived.

According to the airport website, KPDK is located on a part of the old Camp Gordon, a World War I Army training base. The airport is classified as a a general aviation reliever airport for the Atlanta metropolitan area.

FMI: http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/pdkairport/index.asp, www.ntsb.gov