CLEARWATER, Fla. — Authorities identified three people, including the pilot, who died after a small plane crashed into a Clearwater mobile home park Thursday evening.
The pilot was identified as 54-year-old Jemin Patel of Melbourne Beach, Florida, according to a Clearwater Police Department news release. He departed Vero Beach Regional Airport just after 6 p.m. with a set destination to the Clearwater Air Park in central Pinellas County, according to data from FlightAware.
He called "mayday, mayday, mayday," before coming down in his single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza V35 just after 7 p.m. in the Bayside Waters community, Clearwater Fire Chief Scott Ehlers said during a news conference. "They were in contact with Tampa approach and having issues."
An air traffic control recording caught Patel saying, "I can't see the other airport. I'm losing engine." The resulting crash into the mobile home park ignited several homes, prompting a large emergency response.
Martha Parry, 86, of Clearwater lived in the home on Pagoda Drive that was hit by the plane. Police identified her and Mary Ellen Pender, 54, of Treasure Island, Florida, as the two people who were killed on the ground.
Pender was visiting the mobile home where Parry lived, authorities said. As many as nine people had been inside the mobile home that was directly hit, but all but two had left before the crash, according to Clearwater police.
Multiple crews, including police, fire and medical, were dispatched minutes after the crash to the community located off U.S. Highway 19 and just south of Gulf to Bay Boulevard. One person received some sort of injury after the crash and refused treatment.
"When I walked out and saw it, I thought, 'Oh my goodness, that house is totally involved [in flames].' There's no way I could get close to it," said neighbor Marvin Shepherd, who said he's been in fire protection for 35 years. "Cars were pulling up to look; I got them off the streets, so the fire trucks when they arrived could get down the street. I did some things like that to help out.
Frances Yont said she could feel the heat from the fire as she ran out of her house located across the street from the crash.
"Everything was popping like propane tanks," she said. "We couldn't do anything ... it was horrible."
Determining what went wrong could take up to a year, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The pilot was flying a 1979 single-engine Beech Bonanza V35B. Aviation experts tell 10 Investigates it’s a complicated plane to fly. Unlike other area airports, the Clearwater Air Park is uncontrolled, meaning it’s up to the pilot to turn the runway lights on himself.
The investigation ultimately will consider flight track data, aircraft maintenance records, witness statements and more while aiming to determine the cause of the crash. The NTSB says a preliminary report will be available in the next 30 days. A final report is expected within a year to 24 months, which will include a probable cause of the crash.
The agency is asking anyone who may have witnessed the crash or has surveillance video that could be useful to contact investigators at witness@ntsb.gov.
10 Tampa Bay's Josh Sidorowicz, David Belleville, Jennifer Titus and Libby Hendren contributed to this report.