Florida Everglades plane crash: Pilot spends 9 hours in swamp when aircraft goes down in SW Broward
FORT LAUDERDALE -- The pilot of a small plane that ended up in Southwest Broward County spent nine hours overnight in the gator-and-bug-infested Florida Everglades, while he waited to be rescued, authorities said.
The pilot was the only person on board the single-engine Cessna Skyhawk 172M aircraft when he says he went down at 4 a.m. off U.S. 27.
The plane was registered to a Homestead flight school. According to flight tracking, the plane left a location near Lake Okeechobee and traveled south before encountering trouble close to I-75 in South Broward.
The pilot had a wound on his leg according to BSO fire chief Michael Kane. Kane says BSO received a 911 call from the flight school where the plane was based and dispatched crews in airboats. But they realized they needed a hoist to rescue the pilot. That's when Miami-Dade Fire Rescue was called.
When the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue chopper arrived, the man was plucked in dramatic fashion from the wing of the plane.
From Chopper 4 you could see a first responder dangling down to the wing of the plane where the pilot was stranded.
He was given a harness and lifted up to the hovering chopper. Then whisked to Hollywood Memorial Regional Hospital where he remained Tuesday, undergoing treatment.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are handling the investigation.