Sept. 3, Gainesville, Ga. / Mooney M20J

At 18:30 EDT, a Mooney M20J lost power and crashed near Gainesville. The pilot and two passengers were killed. The flight had departed Atlanta and witnesses said the airplane was in level flight approximately 2,000 feet above the ground when the engine lost power, regained it, and possibly lost power again. The pilot apparently tried to stretch the glide to a paved road in a newly developed subdivision but stalled the airplane and spiraled nose-down into the ground about 200 feet short of the road.