Video Shows Cessna Crashing Into Fort Lauderdale Warehouse
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FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - Crews finished removing what's left of a six-passenger Cessna that crashed into a Fort Lauderdale warehouse on Saturday.
Two people, a pilot and passenger, were killed in the crash.
They were identified as pilot Eladio Marquez from New Jersey and one of his former flight school students.
Surveillance video from a nearby business, H & J Electronics International Inc, shows the plane skidding across the ground into a warehouse and then bursting into flames. Moments later people can be seen running from the building.
WATCH THE PLANE CRASH AND AFTERMATH IN THE VIDEO PLAYER BELOW
Seconds after takeoff, Marquez declared an emergency, "We got a fire in left engine, turning right back."
"We're losing power in our left engine, we turning right back."
Then this from another pilot sitting on the runway, "We just had an airplane crash."
The pilot was originally from the Dominican Republic, took flying lessons, eventually became an instructor and opened a flight school.
He owned two planes, his wife said he had a love of flying and love for his family.
"He was a good husband, good father, brother," said the pilot's wife Belkis Marquez.
Reports said the aircraft was bound for the Hilliard, Florida airpark.
The airport manager told CBS4 that it is only a grass strip and might not have been able to handle the Cesena 335 due to heavy rain.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, is also looking into whether the plane had been worked on recently.
"We have interviewed personnel at the airport for fuel and who interacted with the pilot or the occupant in the aircraft in the day or two before the accident," said the NTSB's Tom Monville. "We have to go back and interview another mechanic who was involved in some sort of inspection."
Meanwhile, the occupants of the warehouse that the plane crashed into, an organization that provides services to autistic children, are looking for a new location.