Three Airplanes Damaged As Car Hit Two Hangars

Normally when you park your airplane in a hangar, you think it's pretty safe. But that turned out not to be the case at Valdosta, GA, Regional Airport Monday night when a driver described as "drowsy" crashed through the airport fence, across a parking lot, and through the walls of two hangars damaging three airplanes along the way.

According to a report in the Valdosta Daily Times, the driver, 24-year-old Brandon Cowart, first went through a ditch beside the highway after which he said he remembers nothing about the accident. The car traveled another 1,100 feet into the airport, and the driver did not appear to have attempted to stop the car ... authorities report no skid marks along its path.

To get to the hangars, the car had to travel through the ditch, a fence, and a row of shrubbery. It reportedly jumped a parking block, threaded through trees and light poles, and then plowed through the wall of the first hangar where the three airplanes were damaged, striking two directly. It then went through the wall of a second hangar, and stopped in an office being used to store paint cans, according to police.

The airplanes were owned by Valdosta Flying Services, Antofia Flying Services, and Ferrell Scruggs Co., according to the paper. The Valdosta Police said that Cowart told them he fell asleep while driving. He has so far been charged with failure to maintain his lane. He reportedly suffered only a chipped tooth and a bump on his head.

FMI: www.valdostacity.com/index.aspx?page=177