POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — A plane with three people on board crashed into a residential neighborhood in Pompano Beach, Monday afternoon, officials said.
According to Pompano Beach Fire Rescue, the plane crash, at around 3 p.m., caused one home to catch fire and caused severe damage to two other backyards. The aircraft appeared to have crashed into the corner of a roof of a home, bounced off another residence and then crashed near the pool of another home, just west of the Intracoastal Waterway, on the 900 block of Harbor Drive.
"It was a big explosion. How they got out, I’ll never know," said one witness.
"There was just, like, a fireball," said a girl who also witnessed the crash.
Debris was found scattered across three backyards, including another home’s roof. Sandra King of Pompano Beach Fire Rescue said the aircraft "struck at least one house on the way down before it crashed. No one was injured in that house."
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the pilot was practicing takeoffs and landings when the accident occurred. The Hawker Beechcraft 76 aircraft took off from Runway 10 at the Pompano Beach Airpark, located about a mile away, just moments before it crashed. The pilot taxied out on the runway, got clearance, and spent no longer than two and a half minutes in the air as he took off from west to east.
As he went over the golf course area, across U.S. 1, said the FAA, the pilot experienced problems with the aircraft before plummeting into the residential neighborhood. Black smoke billowed from the home that was visible from miles.
Nearby residents did what they could to douse the flames with whatever they had on hand, including water hoses. Once 11 fire rescue units arrived to the scene, residents left and firefighters were able to put out any flames as well as any hot spots. Smoke continued to escape from all sides of one of the homes until 4 p.m.
According to the Fire Chief of Pompano Beach Fire Rescue, John Jurgle, after a search and rescue was conducted of both the home and the aircraft, two of the victims were found outside of the plane and the third victim seemed to have been ejected from the plane.
The victims were first discovered and assisted by good Samaritans. "I ran from my driveway with my next-door neighbor, and we ran into the backyard and we saw the copilot and pilot standing outside of the plane," said area resident Larry Ferris. "We grabbed and dragged them out to the street. They said, ‘Please call an ambulance.’"
While paramedics worked to stabilize the passengers, David Eckland captured them on cellphone video. "What I saw is three alert victims. The woman was sitting upright. She seemed to be doing well, but all three, all had been badly burned," he said. "They were all wearing white shirts. Those were all
singed and burnt."
The three victims, one female and two males, were initially transported to nearby hospitals with severe burn injuries and are in critical condition. All three victims were later airlifted to Jackson Memorial Burn Center located in the Ryder Trauma Center.
"Thirty to 40 percent of their body is burnt, so, those are significant burns," said Jurgle. "Hence the reason why they were Trauma Alerted to both Broward General and North Broward."
All three victims transported to the hospital were on board the plane. "All three of those people that were on board are in critical condition," said King. "We have no one else injured at this time."
A homeowner who was at home at the time of the crash suffered no injuries. "He exited the house prior to our arrival," said Jurgle. "No one else was inside the house."
"It is scary. We literally have hundreds of planes come over our house every single day," said area resident Ted Alflen. "I’m just thinking, like, two days ago, ‘I hope nobody ever has a problem and crashes into one of the houses.’"
"I think there’s some very lucky people in Pompano," said Jurgle. "[The plane] actually bounced over one house and ended up in the yard of the next house. Obviously, there’s some very fortunate people."
At least a dozen investigators poured onto the scene, with two of them examining the roof of the home that caught fire.
The plane is registered to the Florida Aviation Academy. 7News was unable to reach officials for comment.
The aircraft’s identification number comes back to a company in Wyoming.