DORAL, FLA. (WSVN) - Crews have disassembled and removed a small plane from the middle of a busy intersection in Doral one day after, police said, a pilot was able to make an emergency landing at an industrial plaza without seriously injuring himself or his passenger.
7SkyForce HD hovered above the Beechcraft 76 near Northwest 25th Street and 90th Avenue, in front of Miami-Dade Police headquarters, Monday morning.
Commuters said they were surprised to come across the unusual sight.
“A plane? That’s crazy. I have no words,” said a woman.
Officials said the aircraft, referred to as “Duchess” by air traffic controllers, went down Sunday night.
Doral Police and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue units responded to the scene of the crash just before 10 p.m.
Investigators said the aircraft hit an Amazon delivery truck before it crash landed.
“Apparently, from what I understand and from the evidence on the scene, it clipped the truck as it was coming down,” said Doral Police spokesperson Rey Valdes. “No serious damage. It also clipped the trees.”
Officials said the plane departed from South Carolina and was heading to Miami Executive Airport when the pilot had to make the emergency landing about four miles from the runway.
Responding crews arrived to find the pilot and passenger of the Beechcraft 76 standing outside.
“There were two men inside the plane, the pilot and a passenger. One of them experienced minor injuries,” said Valdes.
An entire block of Northwest 25th Street was shut down as police investigated.
“It has damage to the wing. It has damage to the propellers,” said Valdes.
Investigators said the occupants were fortunate to have survived because there is a lake about 20 yards away from the spot where the aircraft crash landed.
The roadway reopened just after 6:30 a.m., Monday.
People who work in the area said they had to drive around the aircraft.
“I had to go all around to 27th [Street] be able to get into the building because here you could not go through,” said Maydet Serrano.
What caused the plane to go down remains unclear.
There was a rainstorm in the area when the call of the crash came in, but aviation officials have not yet determined if weather was a factor.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
Monday afternoon, officials began the process of removing the plane from the scene piece by piece. As of 5 p.m., they had already removed the engine and other critical components.
According to FAA records, the plane is registered under Osorio Aviation Corporation. The address of the company leads to Global Pilot School in Southwest Miami-Dade.
Those inside of the school refused to comment on the incident.
Back at the scene of the crash, officials and those who work in the area agreed it was a miracle no one was seriously hurt.
“This is one of the main arteries in our city, and it gets a heavy volume of traffic,” said Valdes. “It could have certainly had a different outcome had this occurred eight hours earlier or eight hours later.”
“There are a lot of people who work here. It could have landed on top of a business, and it could have killed somebody, so I’m glad that everybody’s OK,” said Serrano.
Crews worked to lift the fuselage from the ground and onto a trailer so they could clear the roadway.
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