Small Plane In Florida Clips Power Lines, Crashes, Killing Student Pilot

A small plane in Florida hooked to the power lines, caught fire, and crashed Tuesday morning, leaving a student pilot dead and the flight instructor gravely injured.

The two men were the only occupants of the plane. The publication reported that the plane, Piper PA-34, was registered to Wayman Aviation Flight School and the student pilot was on the verge of completing his training.

NBC 6, citing a dashcam footage, said the crash occurred at around 9 a.m.

"The flight training is all about emergency operations," Eddy Luy, vice president of Wayman Aviation Academy, stated. "It's about what happens in case of this, in case of that, and they seemed to have followed those procedures just fine, but the timing was not right for them," he went on.

The deceased was identified by police as Mark Daniel Scott, 25, a Miramar resident. The police have yet to identify the instructor's identity. Scott was pronounced dead at the scene and the injured instructor was rushed to Memorial Regional Hospital.

Kathleen Bergen, a spokesperson for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), told WPLG that the plane took off from North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines, about three miles from the crash site, and the pilot alerted the air traffic controllers that he was attempting to head back to the airport.

Tania Rues, a Miramar police spokeswoman, said that the plane encountered mechanical issues midway and the pilot tried to land on Pembroke Road when it crashed.

“All of a sudden, something just caught my eye. I looked up and the plane was just definitely way too low,” witness Alan Birmaher said. “I looked up and for a split second, it was close enough that I kind of saw the pilot’s face. It was right there.”

Officers from the Pembroke Pines and Miramar police responded to the scene. Rues said that a third person on the ground, who was hurt by the debris, was treated by Miramar Fire Rescue on the scene and released. She confirmed that it was a practice flight that met the dire fate.

The bystanders said the sight of the deadly crash left a deep impact on their minds. “Prayers to the pilot and the passenger. It’s a bad time, I think, for all of us with all the stuff going on with the coronavirus and everything,” Birmaher said. “And to see something like this is very sad and shocking," he continued.