Small plane goes down in Oakland Park neighborhood.No one home when Cessna crashed into house.
A small plane crashed into a house shortly after taking off from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport late this morning.
The Cessna 421 twin-engine prop plane took off around 11:15 a.m. and went down near Andrews Avenue, just north of Commercial Boulevard, said airport spokesman Chaz Adams.
Officials from the airport and the Federal Aviation Administrations are saying the pilot was the only person on board.
"Shortly after it got in the air, it did report trouble to the tower," Adams said. "The tower cleared it to come back and land. In trying to make it back, that's when it went down."
The exact location was 5240 NW First Ave. Adams said at least three people live in the house, and none were home at the time.
"I don't see any possibility of a survivor," said Matt Little, a spokesman for Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, which was offering aid to Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue trucks at the scene.
Adams said the plane was headed to Fernandina Beach, near Jacksonville. The plane is owned by Sebring Air Charter, with offices in Tamarac.
The crash caused a fire that is under control, said Oakland Park city spokesman David Rafter.
Eddie Mujica, who works at Allied Advertising north of the crash site, said he and coworkers watched it happen.
"We saw the plane turn sideways, and then it just nosedived," he said. Then came the smoke. "It's not something you see every day," he said.
Mujica, a Twitter user (emujica), quickly took a picture of the rising smoke and sent a picture to his followers.
Another witness, Maria Alfaro, told NBC-6: "I saw the plane so close to the roof. It tried to turn and it went down."
Scores of people are outside their homes watching the drama unfold.
Residents said they didn't hear the crash, but first realized what happened when they saw the smoke.
"They need to stop flying here," said Kerrie Interlandi, a neighborhood resident echoing the concern of many who complained that plane crashes in the area occur too often.
This is at least the fifth crash involving planes taking off from Executive Airport since June 2004.
The plane cut power lines before it hit the house, officials said, and FPL spokeswoman Sharon Bennett said power was shut down to 1,644 customers in the neighborhood after the crash.
Emergency officials requested the action for safety reasons, Bennett said.
Original Source : http://www.sun-sentinel.com/community/news/fort_lauderdale/sfl-plane-crash-broward-florida-bn041709,0,4019191.story
