CLEARWATER, Fla. — A community was left searching for answers after a small plane plummeted into a Clearwater mobile home park on Feb. 1, killing three people, including the pilot. Now, a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board gives some insight into the events that led up to the fiery crash.
The pilot, 54-year-old Jemin Patel, took off around 6:09 p.m. from Vero Beach Municipal Airport with plans to fly the Beech V35 aircraft across the state to Clearwater Airpark.
At about 7 p.m., when the plane was just more than 4 nautical miles east-southeast of the airport, two people at the airport reported that Patel radioed that he couldn't find the airport, asking to turn on the runway lights, according to the report.
The runway lights were already on because a plane had just landed.
"They also stated that after the pilot requested a second time to turn the runway lights on, the pilot-controlled runway lighting was changed to the highest intensity," the report read. That's when, according to the report, Patel announced he had a "fire."
The flight then continued west of the airport, turning nearly parallel to the runway before continuing north and turning around again, investigators said.
According to NTSB, the pilot continued switching directions until 7:05 p.m. when he said "coming to Albert Whitted I can’t see the other airport.”
Controllers responded by telling Patel he was one mile south of Clearwater Airpark and asking him to do a 180-degree turn.
At 7:06 p.m., Patel told controllers "I'm losing engine." It was the last transmission they received from the pilot.
According to Clearwater Fire Chief Scott Ehlers, Patel called "mayday, mayday, mayday" before crashing at 7:07 p.m. into a mobile home in the Bayside Waters community.
Patel was killed in the crash along with 86-year-old Martha Parry, who lived at the impacted mobile home on Pagoda Drive, and 54-year-old Mary Ellen Pender, who was visiting.
A pilot flying nearby reported seeing the plane steeply descending to impact in what he described as "like an uncontrolled descent" and a "very bright light," according to NTSB.
A witness who was driving her car near the accident site said she saw a "fireball" in the sky.
NTSB investigators are continuing to analyze the plane's wreckage and videos of the accident to determine what caused the crash.