Two people died after a small plane attempted to make an emergency landing on Interstate 75 in southwest Florida on Friday afternoon, colliding with a vehicle and bringing traffic to a halt as a massive plume of black smoke rose into the air.
The crash landing happened near the Pine Ridge Road exit in Collier County, just north of where the interstate heads east toward Fort Lauderdale along what is known as Alligator Alley.
Brianna Walker saw the wing of the plane drag the car in front of hers and slam into the wall.
Photo: AP
“It’s seconds that separated us from the car in front of us,” she said. “The wing pulverized this one car.”
Walker and her friend spotted the plane moments before it hit the highway, allowing her friend to pull over before the crash.
“The plane was over our heads by inches,” Walker said. “It took a hard right and skid across the highway.”
She said an explosion of flames then burst from the plane with a loud boom. Pieces of the plane littered the highway.
“It feels unreal, like a movie,” she said. “It was seconds between us dying.”
The US Federal Aviation Administration identified the aircraft as a Bombardier Challenger 600 jet and said that five people were aboard when the crash happened at about 3:15pm.
The plane had taken off from an airport at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, at about 1pm and was scheduled to land in Naples at about the time of the crash, Naples Airport Authority spokesperson Robin King said.
A pilot had contacted the tower requesting an emergency landing, saying they had lost both engines.
The pilot was cleared to land on a runway, but said: “We’re not going to make the runway. We’ve lost both engines,” according to a tape of the call cited by the Naples Daily News.
The tower lost contact, and then airport workers saw the smoke from the interstate just a few kilometers away, King said.
King said they sent fire trucks with special foam to the scene, and three of the five people on board were taken from the wreckage alive.
Collier County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Adam Fisher confirmed two deaths, but said he did not immediately know whether the victims had been passengers on the plane or were hit on the ground.
The plane was operated by Hop-a-Jet Worldwide Charter based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the FlightAware aircraft tracker showed.
The aircraft had been scheduled to fly back to Fort Lauderdale on Friday afternoon.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are to investigate. A preliminary report about the cause of the crash can be expected in 30 days.
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