Plane crash near North Perry Airport hospitalizes pilot, shocks Pembroke Pines neighborhood

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    PEMBROKE PINES, Florida (WSVN) — A plane crash near North Perry Airport prompted a swift response from rescue crews, leaving residents in the vicinity shaken by the ordeal.

Officials reported that a Mooney M20E crash-landed just before 2:30 p.m. at the airport, located at 101 SW 77th Way. As neighbors heard the plane crash, the sound of impact reverberated through the area. The plane came down on the east side of the airport, just feet away from Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue’s station.

“I was shocked, I was quite shocked, actually,” said an area resident.

Teresa Shaia, who resides near the crash site, described her initial reaction.

“I thought it was a car on the street actually,” recalled Shaia. “It sounded like a car putter and I didn’t see any cars. Next thing, you know, I see a plane right into, believe it or not, the front of the fire station.”

Everyday Shaia hears cars driving down Southwest 72nd Avenue, but on Thursday afternoon, she watched a plane come down in the worst way.

“Close misses are such a blessing,” said Shaia.

While Shaia saw it, any others nearby heard it. Peter Sciallo, another area resident, recounted the moment when he heard the plane descending low with a loud engine noise, followed by a thunderous crash.

“I was in my house, in my son’s room, I heard the plane coming down very low, loud noise with the engines, and then all of a sudden, a real loud bang, like a dump truck was going 80 to 100 mph over a speed bump, it was just ‘bang,’” he said, “and then the plane landed right across the street from my house.”

Shaia was shocked as well, but she ran toward the single engine plane to check on the pilot and call for help, along with another woman who saw the crash.

“We just got him onto the wing, laid him on his back. He had injured his back, he had like a gash on his forehead,” recounted Shaia.

The pilot on board the small plane was extricated by freighters and was conscious and breathing.

“They opened up the doors; it took them probably about 15 minutes, but they got him out, strapped him and put him in the ambulance,” said Sciallo.

Police said the pilot was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening. No other injuries were reported.

Shaia said when she talked to the pilot, he told her the engine stalled out in the air. At the scene, law enforcement examined the plane for hours, until it was towed away from where it landed — on the east side of the North Perry Airport.

“There are a number of crashes here at North Perry Airport, especially in the past few years, but nothing this close to our house. We’re not really in the line of the runway. So this was this is a little bit more scary,” expressed Shaia.

In 2020, four people were on board a plane and suffered significant injuries when it crashed at the airport. The following year, three people were killed when their plan crashed, with only a mother, who was also on board, being the sole survivor.

In May of this year, a banner plane crashed and the pilot sustain significant injuries, and in August, two people, an instructor and a prospective student, were killed when their plan crashed at North Perry Airport.

Federal investigators are now investigating the cause of this recent crash.

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