NTSB: Preliminary Report On Fiery Pompano Air Crash
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - The National Transportation Safety Board has released its preliminary report on a fiery crash in Pompano Beach last week.
On Monday, April 25th, the Beech BE-76 aircraft crashed into a home at 925 NE 26 Avenue shortly after it departed from Pompano Beach Airpark at 3 p.m. Onboard were flight instructor and two students.
According to the report, an air traffic controller said when the plane was about 400 to 500 feet above the ground, it made a sharp right turn followed by a sharp left turn and then entered into a steep nose dive.
"Another controller, who was working ground control, saw the airplane when it was on right cross wind. He could not recall the airplane's attitude at that time, but said it made a 'hard left turn from a southerly heading to a northerly heading' with the nose pointed down toward the ground. The controller said that just before the airplane disappeared behind trees, it appeared to level out. He then saw fire and smoke," according to the NTSB preliminary report.
An examination of the wreckage found the plane first hit the roof of a home. The report said this caused the fuel tank to breach and start a fire on a section of the home. Pieces of the airplane's left wing were found on the roof.
The plane then hit a wooden fence, several trees and a concrete wall that was part of another home before it came to rest in an upright position in the backyard of the home that was next door to the one that it had clipped.
The NTSB said the flight instructor, identified as Geoffrey White was sitting in the front right seat, student Fernando Diaz was in the front left and Silvia Mena was sitting in the rear of the plane.
All three survived, but were seriously hurt.
"The copilot (Diaz) was asking me 'my face, my face' and I said 'you're alive, it's okay, everything is going to be okay," said witness Warren Beck.
The three, from Florida Aviation Academy, were practicing takeoffs and landings at the time of the crash.
Larry Ferris, who was outside washing his car, said he heard the plane sputtering.
"It sputtered again, backfired and then I seen it take a nose dive into the back houses there and blow up," Ferris told reporters. "It was a huge fireball."
No one on the ground was hurt.
It is unclear what caused the crash but investigators suspect the plane may have had an engine problem.
