Adam Sutton, 19, told Erika Brussee, 18, they were going on a date to the movies but instead took her to the airport in Rome, a town in north-west Georgia, for a chartered flight on Friday, according to the WSB-TV website.
The plan was for family members to hold up a large sign on the ground with the words "will you marry me" on it. But Brussee only saw the word "marry" because part of the sign was obscured before the plane, flying slowly at low altitude, stalled and crashed on the tarmac at Rome's airport.
The couple were not seriously hurt, Mike Mathews, airport manager at Richard Russell Regional Airport, said today.
Brussee finally said "yes" to the proposal in the ambulance, Mathews said, but Sutton wasn't able to give her the ring. Only the ring's box could be found after the crash.