What We Know:
- A small plane crashed into Clearwater mobile home park Thursday night
- 3 people died
- Viewer videos show flames erupting in the area
- NTSB investigators are at the scene of the crash
- An eyewitness says the plane was in a torpedo-like free fall before impact
Three people died Thursday night when a small plane slammed into Bayside Waters, a mobile home park just south of Clearwater Mall, the FAA said.
Clearwater Fire & Rescue Chief Scott Ehlers said the call of a fire came in around 7:08 p.m. Thursday and the first fire and rescue crews arrived by 7:15 p.m.
The plane, a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza V35B, crashed into the park after the pilot reported an engine failure. Clearwater Fire Rescue said that much of the damage was in the Pagoda Drive area in the park.
Multiple mobile homes caught fire after the plane crash, and firefighters from multiple jurisdictions responded to the scene to offer assistance.
According to Clearwater Fire, at least one mobile home had severe damage, and two other mobile homes sustained minor damage from heat and flames.
The FAA said in a preliminary report that one pilot and two people on the ground died in the crash and fire.
Clearwater officials said up to nine people were inside the mobile home before the crash, but only two people were still inside when the plane crashed into the home.
The Beechcraft Bonanza V35B can hold up to four people, including a pilot, and can hold at least 50 gallons of fuel. According to FAA records, the plane that crashed was manufactured in 1979.
Authorities said the plane had taken off from Vero Beach earlier in the day.
Austin Kropp, who lives in the area, was taking a walk Thursday night — just after sunset — when he heard the plane almost directly overhead.
“I actually looked up, because it sounded like a plane was taking off," he said.
Kropp says the small plane, with its lights off, was torpedoing toward the ground.
“It was a very steep angle. It wasn’t straight down. I’d say it was probably 70 degrees. It was more down than forward," he said.
Though a building blocked his view of the impact, he rushed over and saw the towering flames and realized there wasn’t anything he could do to help.
“You know, you see something like that, you immediately want to render aid if you can, and when you get there, I mean, there was just so much carnage," he said. “You couldn’t make sense of anything. It looked like the house exploded.”
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will handle the investigation into the crash.
An NTSB investigator arrived at the accident site Friday morning and began documenting the scene and examining the aircraft. The NTSB investigation will involve looking at the pilot, aircraft, and the operating environment.
NTSB investigators will gather information surrounding flight track data, air traffic control communications, aircraft maintenance records, weather conditions, and more.
