The pilot of the private jet that crashed on a Florida highway on Friday had made an emergency call stating that "We are not going to make it to the runway."
In his last words the pilot said with aplomb that the plane had lost both engines.
"Hop-A-Jet 823, it has lost both engines, emergency. I am making an emergency landing. We have permission to land, but we will not reach the runway. We have lost both engines," he explained to the controller seconds before crashing.
The incident occurred around 3:15 p.m., in the southbound lanes of I-75 and caused the death of two people. Three others escaped alive from the aircraft, a Bombardier Challenger 604 that had left the Ohio State University airport in Columbus bound for Naples, the Federal Aviation Administration reported.
After the communication, the Naples airport controller lost communication with the pilot, according to Robin King, of the Airport Authority of that city in Collier County, a neighbor of Miami-Dade.
The planeHe tried to land on the road but crashed into a vehicle near kilometer 107 and its front part caught fire, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.
A witness to the incident said the plane's wing dragged the car in front of his and pulverized it.
Aviation experts analyze the fatal crash of a small plane on I-75. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were also investigating the cause of this tragic event, he cited.Local 10.
"It is very rare for two engines to fail in any multi-engine aircraft," said attorney John Galiano, a former U.S. Navy pilot.
In this regard, he suggested that a flock of birds probably caused the accident; or a defect or maintenance problem.
For his part, Helgi Bistochett, a pilot who flies a Challenger 605, said the plane's wings are short and require both engines.
The plane is registered to Fort Lauderdale-based East Shore Aviation LLC, according to the FAA. Fort Lauderdale-based Hop-a-Jet includes it in its fleet of charter planes.
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