Updated July 9, 2026, 11:20 a.m. ET
A pilot sustained only minor injuries after a small plane crashed near the Tallahassee airport on July 8.The single-engine plane crashed into trees near Cascade Lake while on its final approach.The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash, which caused substantial damage to the plane.
A pilot who made a crash landing near a dry lake bed and cypress forest near the Tallahassee airport on July 8 endured only minor injuries, according to the the Federal Aviation Administration.
The plane crashed into trees while on final approach to the Tallahassee International Airport.
When first responders arrived on scene July 8, they quickly confirmed there were no other occupants in the plane. Paramedics treated the single passenger while the fire department’s hazmat crew started to contain fuel after spotting a leak.
Tallahassee Fire Department spokesperson Todd Inserra told the Tallahassee Democrat the man was “alert and standing up when we got there.”
“Thank God they’re okay,” one person wrote on Facebook. “Could have been a lot worse!!! Glad it wasn’t.”
While one woman took to social media to say her son’s plane was diverted to another airport because of the crash, a city spokesperson said no commercial flights to or from Florida’s capital city were diverted.
The FAA is investigating the crash of the Mooney M20 single-engine airplane, which took “substantial” damage.
In addition to TFD, the Tallahassee Police Department and Leon County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the crash.
Photographer hiked to scene of the crash
Cascade Lake, where the plane crashed, has been in the headlines recently because the drought exposed the lake bed and an other worldly landscape of exposed cypress roots.
Tallahassee Democrat Photojournalist Alicia Devine hiked about a mile through these exposed cypress trees and mud as she made her way to the scene of the crash. By the time she arrived, only a couple airport workers were milling about the scene.
Devine said the crash damaged the front, tail and wings of the plane. During what must have been a hard landing, the plane sheered the tops off some of the cypress trees. Branches were wound up in the propeller, and the tail of the plane was twenty feet in front of the nose. The scene smelled like gas after Tallahassee firefighters responded and cleaned up a fuel leak.
The cockpit largely remained undamaged and an oxygen mask was hanging from the ceiling.