MIAMI (AP) — A 72-year-old Florida man fell asleep when he heard an “incredible roar” and was thrown to the ground covered in insulation and damaged glass, narrowly surviving the fatal small plane crash that shattered his phone. and destroyed the caravan next door.
The pilot and two people on the ground were killed when the single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza V35 crashed into the Bayside Waters mobile home park around 7 p.m. Thursday, authorities said.
The plane’s pilot reported engine failure shortly before the plane crashed, the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday.
Firefighters couldn’t immediately tell how many people were inside the double-wide mobile home where the plane ultimately crash-landed, sending the structure up in flames. But the FAA confirmed Friday that 2 people died in the home.
“The aircraft was found in the one structure,” Clearwater Fire Chief Scott Ehlers said during a late night news conference.
The pilot reported an emergency to St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport shortly before the plane went off radar, about 3 miles north of a runway, Ehlers said. The airport is about 7 miles southeast of Clearwater.
Joe Miller, who was wrapped in a blanket and still shaking hours after the crash, told the Tampa Bay Times he scrambled through the wreckage of his mobile home, which was ripped apart by the explosion, and was greeted outside by leaping flames from the home next door.
Mary Fagan, 63, who lives down the street, told the newspaper that her mother used to own the double-wide. She said another family member who lives in Illinois now owns the home, and she believes people had been staying there.
Fagan said neighbors called her Thursday evening, saying “Your mom’s mobile is on fire.”
He said he rushed to the scene and joined neighbors as they watched firefighters extinguish the flames.
After eight years in a cellphone home, on a giant 55+ network off US 19, Miller told the newspaper he had no idea what he was going to do now.
“The roof blew off and I don’t know what’s inside. I just know I’m lucky to be here,” he said.