Small plane crashes into South Broward building, killing two people on board
A small twin-engine plane crashed into a storage building in South Broward early Friday, killing two people aboard.
The twin-engine 1969 Aero Commander 500 S clipped the building before crashing next to it in an industrial area at 1824 South Park Road in Pembroke Park, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The area is on the Hollywood-Hallandale Beach border and just east of North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines.
The prop plane had departed from the Pompano Beach Air Park airport and was on its way to Opa-locka when it crashed shortly after 9 a.m., said Broward County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Don Prichard.
Both the pilot and passenger were killed, Prichard said. He declined to say if those aboard were male or female. He said their families were being notified.
Total Traffic Network reporter Stephen J. Gray and his crew heard the plane’s distress call just before it went down Friday, according to Miami Herald news partner CBS4.
“My pilot’s listening on the radio, he hears, ‘Oh F, Oh F, oh my gosh.’ Then the tower calls out the N number, the plane did not respond and then the tower declared an emergency,” Gray told the station.
Orlyn Andino, who works near the storage facility, said he heard what sounded like an explosion. When he looked up, he saw the plane hitting the top of the storage building before it went down into a lot.
He and others who witnessed the crash called 911 and rushed over to help, but it was too late, he said. The two people inside the plane were dead, he said.
The plane, with N900DT on its tail, has seven seats and is registered to Miami Lakes-based Conquest Air Inc, a cargo airline with daily services between Miami and Nassau, Bahamas, according to an FAA plane registry search.
“Our concern is with the pilots and their families. We will continue to work with the relevant authorities to obtain more information regarding this situation,” Conquest Air said in a written statement. “The aircraft ... is not used in the day to day cargo operation. The aircraft is not used in our normal cargo operation and was not on our FAA Part 135 Certificate.”
Surveillance video shared with the Miami Herald from a nearby building captured the plane as it crashed. In the video, the plane breaks into pieces as it falls next to the building.
Another video taken by a witness who saw the crash shows parts of the plane scattered across the ground. The front of the plane was completely wrecked.
“The debris field is pretty large,” said Prichard, the spokesman for the sheriff’s office. “The plane is mangled.”
One side of the building near the top had a broken window and some scrapes on the wall from where the plane struck it. .
About a 3-foot chunk of concrete also appeared to be torn from the building’s corner. Prichard said it’s believed the storage building the plane hit was empty at the time.
Armando Perez, who was visiting the storage unit, told WSVN he feels lucky to be alive.
“I was leaving the garage near the gate when I heard the explosion,” Perez said. “When I looked, I saw the plane. If I would have left two minutes after, the plane would have fallen on top of me. It was a question of two minutes.”
The Broward Sheriff’s Office said that the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are taking over the investigation.
Miami Herald staff writer Madeleine Marr contributed to this report.
This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 9:53 AM.
