Small Plane Crashes Near Lillian, Pilot Taken to Pensacola Hospital

A small home-built airplane went down near the intersection of Baldwin County 91 and Sunset Drive in Lillian on the morning of Friday, Oct. 31, 2014, prompting a quick response from emergency crews in southeast Baldwin County.

The crash was reported to Baldwin County 911 just after 8:30 a.m. A dispatcher said the aircraft was a small, home-built plane, and that the pilot had already gotten out of the wreckage and was standing near the site, described as “a little dazed” but conscious when help arrived.

Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Maj. Anthony Lowery said a deputy found the pilot standing beside the downed plane. “He was coherent but he was transported to Sacred Heart,” Lowery said, referring to Sacred Heart Hospital across the state line in Pensacola, where the pilot was taken to be treated for injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening.

The crash also knocked down a power line along the east side of County Road 91, prompting Riviera Utilities, which serves the Lillian area near the Florida state line, to send crews to the scene to address the outage and secure the downed line.

Baldwin County 911 officials said they contacted the Federal Aviation Administration about the crash, but the agency had no record of anyone scheduled to be flying in the area at the time and asked investigators to help identify the pilot. Lowery said the FAA would take the lead on investigating exactly what caused the small plane to go down.

How crash investigations proceed

Home-built planes are certified by the FAA in the experimental amateur-built category. The National Transportation Safety Board is the federal agency responsible for investigating civil aviation accidents in the United States and typically issues a preliminary report within weeks of a crash, while a final report with a probable cause finding can take a year or more.