Company that owned crashed banner plane had several other crashes in past
MIAMI - The single engine Piper that crashed in Hollywood on Wednesday is at least the fourth aircraft from Aerial Banner, Inc. involved in an accident.
CBS News Miami went to North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines where the banner plane took off to find out more about the aircraft that went down killing its pilot.
The airport located at 101 SW 77th Way in Pembroke Pines, almost immediately diverted any media from coming into the area.
The offices of Aerial Banner, Inc. are located at the airport. As the crew from CBS News Miami approached one of the gates, we were told we could not go forward and were given a phone number to call someone from the Aviation Department. As we called Aerial Banner, Inc. we were told the plane was theirs.
Doing research, CBS News Miami discovered in 2019 another banner plane from Aerial Banner hit an 18-story condominium building in Fort Lauderdale. That aircraft then fell several floors onto an outdoor pool deck. The pilot also died in that crash. Almost immediately that year, CBS News Miami interviewed Bob Benyo, president and C.E.O. of Aerial Banners, he said, "It was a horrific thing for us."
According to LinkedIn, Benyo still holds the position of president for Aerial Banner, inc. The company's website says they have more than 50 planes at locations around the country, including Miami, Fort Lauderdale, New York City, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, and Alaska.
A search of our archives found there were at least two other banner plane accidents before.
In March 2015, a pilot survived a plane crash in Broward County, the aircraft was also owned by Aerial Banners Inc. It crashed in some marsh water about 3 miles west of U.S. highway 27.
The year before that (in March 2014), a banner plane crashed into a lake in northeast Miami Dade County near Interstate 95. The pilot was returning to North Perry Airport when the plane lost engine control. The pilot survived.
This Wednesday the outcome was very different, at this time there are many questions unanswered.