Medical Examiner's Office: Yaacov Nahom, Grant Hustad Died In Plane That Crashed In Pembroke Pines
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - The Broward Medical Examiner's Office has identified the two men who were in the plane that hit an SUV when it crashed on Monday in Pembroke Pines.
Using dental records, the ME identified them as Yaacov Nahom, 63, and Grant Hustad, 71, both died at the scene. FAA records show the plane was registered to FL Eagle Aviation Inc. According to the state's Sunbiz.org, Nahom was the president of the corporation.
It's unclear who was flying the single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza plane when it came crashing down onto SW 72nd Avenue, just short of the runway.
It struck the SUV, driven by Megan Bishop, then careened into the airport fence and exploded into a ball of flames.
The spilled fuel from the crash caught on fire and stretched across the road.
CBS4 News obtained Ring video of the crash from Anabel Fernandez, who lives directly across the street.
Bishop and her four-year-old son Taylor, who was with his mom in the car, were driving past the airport when they were hit. Both were pulled from the vehicle and taken to Memorial Regional Hospital where the boy died.
Bishop, a special education teacher's assistant in Broward County Schools, was released from the hospital Monday night.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay for Taylor's memorial service and funeral.
Robert Arkin, with the North Perry Airport Community Association and a pilot himself, said he knew Nahom and Hustad, adding they both were well-experienced.
"It's very unusual that this happens because there are over 300,000 operations that happen in North Perry," he explained. "There's not that many accidents, let alone fatalities."
Some people who live near the airport, however, feel as though it has happened too many times.
On Dec. 18, 2020, four people survived a small plane crash near North Perry Airport. A single-engine SOCATA TB10 Tobago took off from the airport and later crashed about a mile away.
On Nov. 23, a pilot was killed after his single-engine plane crashed while trying to land at the small airport. The pilot reported engine trouble shortly after takeoff and attempted to land while approaching a runway.
A week later on Dec. 2, a small Piper plane crashed after landing at the airport. The two people on board were not injured.
Jim Hall, former Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board said crashes are not common at most airports.
"What is common at most airports is the responsibility of the administration of that airport to do everything they can to learn from this accident," he said.
While he said the cause of this accident has not yet been released, he encourages airport leadership to review these accidents to see if there are any commonalities that could be contributing to the frequency.
"The best way to have a safe system is to have a culture that takes every accident seriously and considered every accident one too many," he said. "The people on the ground deserve as much safety as the people in the air, and that requires vigorous oversight by the FAA and local officials."
North Perry Airport is owned by the Broward County Aviation Department. Broward Mayor Steve Geller said 14 total accidents have occurred over the last five years.
"Closing this airport is not an option," he said. "It will create more traffic in other places."
The most recent numbers from the FAA are from 2019, which show a national average of three small plane crashes in the United States per day.
