A Velocity Kit Plane Crashed Short of Gwinnett County Airport After a Rough-Engine Call, Killing One of Two Aboard

A Velocity 173 FG crashed into woods about a mile southeast of Gwinnett County Airport in Lawrenceville, Georgia, at around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026, killing one of the two men on board. Flightradar24 tracking data points to the amateur-built Velocity registered N776TB, whose track ends about 1.5 miles from the airport minutes before that time.

The NTSB said it is investigating the crash of a Velocity-173 FG near Lawrenceville. The FAA is also investigating.

What officials have said

The pilot told air traffic control the single-engine airplane had a rough engine, then reported that it had gone into the trees, a Gwinnett County Fire Department spokesperson told 11Alive. Fire officials said the airplane was trying to land at the airport, also known as Briscoe Field, when it came down.

Firefighters found both men trapped in the wreckage. One was pulled out and taken to a hospital with injuries that police and fire officials described as not life-threatening.

The other man, found in the left seat, died at the scene. Fire officials said it was not clear whether he was flying the airplane, and it was not yet known whether it was a training flight. Neither man’s name had been released by Tuesday night.

Police placed the crash near Winder Highway and Bacchus Drive, while fire crews responded to Old Athens Highway, which Atlanta News First reported was closed between Rock House Road and Cedars Road. The NTSB put the site about a mile southeast of the airport.

What the tracking data shows

According to Flightradar24, N776TB took off from Gwinnett County’s Briscoe Field at about 4:49 p.m. Eastern and flew southeast to an area east of Monroe, roughly 28 miles away. It maneuvered there for roughly a quarter of an hour before heading back toward Lawrenceville.

Its last recorded position, at about 5:26 p.m., was roughly 1.5 miles east-southeast of the field, with the airplane slowing to around 80 knots on its way back to the airport. Surface winds at the airport were light from the west under clear skies, according to the airport’s weather reports.

That record suggests a flight of about 40 minutes, while fire officials said the two men had been flying for about an hour and a half. The difference is unresolved, and the NTSB’s preliminary report should establish the timeline.

FAA registry records list N776TB as a 1999 Velocity-173 FG Elite in the experimental, amateur-built category, powered by a Franklin 6A-350 six-cylinder engine. The same tracking data shows it made a short local flight from Lawrenceville around midday on Tuesday.

What a Velocity is

The Velocity is a four-seat composite canard design with its engine at the back driving a pusher propeller. It traces its lineage to Burt Rutan’s Long-EZ and first flew in 1985.

The 173 models gained an enlarged wing, and the Elite added gull-wing doors. “FG” marks the fixed-gear version, as opposed to the retractable-gear RG.

The Velocity is sold as a kit aircraft. Under FAA rules, an amateur-built airplane is one whose major portion was fabricated and assembled by people who built it for their own education or recreation, and it flies on an experimental airworthiness certificate.

The registry lists no type certificate for N776TB, as is normal for an amateur-built airplane, so its build and maintenance history belongs to that one airframe. Maintenance records are among the things the NTSB said it would examine.

What happens next

NTSB investigators were due at the scene on Wednesday morning, FOX 5 Atlanta reported, citing the agency. They will look at the wreckage, air traffic control recordings, flight tracking, weather, maintenance records and the pilot’s background, and anyone who saw the crash can email [email protected].

A preliminary report comes first: on Nov. 10, for example, the NTSB released one for an Oct. 15 helicopter crash in Florida. The probable cause comes only with the final report, and the agency says it generally aims to finish an investigation within 12 to 24 months.

Until then, the rough-engine report is the only account of what went wrong, and no cause has been determined.