Two Men Injured in Cherokee County Plane Crash

CHEROKEE COUNTY — Two East Texans were injured when their plane went down near the Cherokee County Airport in Rusk about 1 p.m. Saturday. The passengers, Robert Gatewood and Jake Wise, were piloting a new Rans S-12 aircraft that Gatewood had recently purchased. The S-12 is an ultralight aircraft that requires two pilots to fly. According to the Longview News-Journal, the plane went down off of County Road 1614 and County Road 1621 in Cherokee County. The wreckage was found about a quarter of a mile in the woods, and both passengers were removed from the craft before being life-flighted to ETMC, according to officials on the scene. The Federal Aviation Administration was on the scene late Saturday afternoon investigating.