Latest news with #PembrokePines


CBS News
15-07-2025
- General
- CBS News
911 calls reveal chaos and courage after Pembroke Pines plane crash: "The plane is on fire"
Just-released 911 calls captured the desperate moments after a small plane crashed in a Pembroke Pines neighborhood Sunday evening, as neighbors rushed into action. They came armed with sledgehammers, axes and hoses to save a family of four trapped inside the burning aircraft. "The propeller was in my yard. It was a shock," said Torres Jordan, one of the first to respond. "I'm a read and react guy. We came together and reacted quick." In one call, a neighbor reports the plane is on fire. In the background, the repeated sound of metal being struck by a sledgehammer echoes as good Samaritans work to free the passengers. Residents, including an off-duty first responder, broke windows and pulled the pilot and his two daughters from the Cessna before realizing the mother was pinned inside. "He came with an axe, breaking the windows. So, we took the father out first, the two daughters peeked their heads out of the seat, and we had to break the bottom half of the cockpit because the mom was on the bottom, trapped in," said neighbor Eddy Crispin. "The neighbor from across the street had a fire extinguisher trying to put the fire out. My neighbor where the plane actually crashed, he had a water hose and was hosing the plane down." According to police, Fanely Maurette Diaz, the pilot's wife, was pinned and extracted by neighbors using tools. Pembroke Pines police said pilot Carlos Balza Cardenas told officers he was returning from a family trip to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, with refueling stops in Puerto Rico. As he approached North Perry Airport, he reported losing thrust after lowering the landing gear. No mayday call was received, and air traffic control lost contact with the plane about eight miles from the airport. Another pilot later radioed in to report the crash. The flight had originated in the Dominican Republic and passed through the Turks and Caicos before reaching South Florida. The National Transportation Safety Board has taken the wreckage to Jacksonville for investigation. Sunday's crash is the latest in a troubling pattern of aviation accidents linked to North Perry Airport. Pembroke Pines Mayor Angelo Castillo is calling for immediate changes. "This is a community that has suffered," Castillo said. "These residents are constantly fearing that in the middle of the night some plane is going to knock into their homes or create a problem on the main road." He is also pushing for a study of lead levels in the neighborhood. Broward Commissioner Alexandra Davis echoed the urgency. "We are looking at leasing agreements," Davis said. "Fewer vendors could mean fewer accidents." Long history of crashes near North Perry Airport The airport, which has operated since 1943, has seen multiple crashes in recent years. In 2021, a 4-year-old boy was killed when a plane hit his mother's car. In 2022, a plane from the airport crashed into a home in Miramar. From 2020 to 2024, officials reported 14 accidents and 20 incidents tied to North Perry. Despite this record, Broward's aviation department says the airport has earned a perfect safety inspection score from the state for the past 25 Murray contributed to this report.


CTV News
15-07-2025
- General
- CTV News
People in Florida neighbourhood stop dinner, grab tools to rescue 4 people in plane crash
Emergency personnel work at the scene of the wreckage following a plane crash in a yard in the Pines Village community in Pembroke Pines, Fla., Sunday night, July 13, 2025. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP) Residents in a Miami suburb used an ax, fire extinguisher and garden hose to rescue four people from a small plane that crashed into a tree in yet another mishap near a busy South Florida airport. 'It was nothing short of heroic,' Angelo Castillo, the mayor of Pembroke Pines in Broward County, said Tuesday. But Castillo is frustrated. He said there have been more than 30 crashes in the past five years on or around North Perry Airport, which serves small planes. A local street is named for 4-year-old Taylor Bishop, one of three people who died when a plane crashed into an SUV in 2021. 'We need better assurances that these planes are not going to keep falling out of the sky," Castillo said. "The airport was a dairy farm before World War II. Now it's the busiest general aviation airport in Florida. But within a five-mile radius, there are approximately half a million people." A pilot and three passengers were approaching the airport in a Cessna T337G when the aircraft crashed into a tree in the Pines Village neighborhood around 8 p.m. Sunday, authorities said. 'Residents put their dinner forks down to get out there,' Castillo said. 'Some had garden hoses to put the fire out. There were cuts and bruises, but all four survived.' Giovanna Hanley said the plane crashed near her mother's house where she was staying. 'Within seconds, my hero Father in Law was breaking glass and pulling out the injured. ... This is personal. This is angering. This is unacceptable,' Hanley said on Facebook, referring to plane crashes. An email seeking comment from North Perry Airport was not immediately answered Tuesday. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash. Castillo, meanwhile, wants an independent investigation of local air safety. 'People are up in arms, and I can't blame them,' he said. Ed White, The Associated Press


The Independent
15-07-2025
- General
- The Independent
People in Florida neighborhood stop dinner, grab tools to rescue 4 people in plane crash
Residents in a Miami suburb used an ax, fire extinguisher and garden hose to rescue four people from a small plane that crashed into a tree in yet another mishap near a busy South Florida airport. 'It was nothing short of heroic,' Angelo Castillo, the mayor of Pembroke Pines in Broward County, said Tuesday. But Castillo is frustrated. He said there have been more than 30 crashes in the past five years on or around North Perry Airport, which serves small planes. A local street is named for 4-year-old Taylor Bishop, one of three people who died when a plane crashed into an SUV in 2021. 'We need better assurances that these planes are not going to keep falling out of the sky," Castillo said. "The airport was a dairy farm before World War II. Now it's the busiest general aviation airport in Florida. But within a five-mile radius, there are approximately half a million people." A pilot and three passengers were approaching the airport in a Cessna T337G when the aircraft crashed into a tree in the Pines Village neighborhood around 8 p.m. Sunday, authorities said. 'Residents put their dinner forks down to get out there,' Castillo said. 'Some had garden hoses to put the fire out. There were cuts and bruises, but all four survived.' Giovanna Hanley said the plane crashed near her mother's house where she was staying. 'Within seconds, my hero Father in Law was breaking glass and pulling out the injured. ... This is personal. This is angering. This is unacceptable,' Hanley said on Facebook, referring to plane crashes. An email seeking comment from North Perry Airport was not immediately answered Tuesday. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash. Castillo, meanwhile, wants an independent investigation of local air safety. ' People are up in arms, and I can't blame them,' he said.


Fox News
15-07-2025
- General
- Fox News
Florida small plane crash captured on dramatic home security video
A small plane crash in Florida was captured in a dramatic home security video. Footage taken Sunday near North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines showed the Cessna colliding with a tree in a residential neighborhood before locals sprang into action to save the family of four onboard, according to WSVN. "You could hear decelerating, and it just smacked the tree," Eddie Crispin, a witness, told the station. "Once it smacked the tree, we confirmed that the plane did hit the tree, and it hit the ground. The neighbor from across the street had a fire extinguisher trying to put the fire out. "My neighbor, where the plane actually crashed, had a water hose and was hosing the plane down. Another guy showed up with the axe; he was actually trying to break the window. It was just pretty much all going on at the exact same time. But we did pull them out one by one," he added. The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, told Fox News Digital in a statement Tuesday that "Preliminary information indicates the airplane was on approach to North Perry Airport, when it crashed for unknown reasons in a neighborhood about 1 mile short of the runway. The NTSB added that the wreckage of the Cessna T337G "will be recovered today to a secure facility in Jacksonville, Florida for further examination. The Pembroke Pines Police Department said Sunday that "Officers are assisting with a small plane crash in the area of SW 14 Street & SW 68 Blvd." "One pilot and three passengers are all safely out of the plane," it added on X. The aircraft was traveling from Turks and Caicos at the time of the crash, NBC 6 reported.


Associated Press
15-07-2025
- General
- Associated Press
People in Florida neighborhood stop dinner, grab tools to rescue 4 people in plane crash
Residents in a Miami suburb used an ax, fire extinguisher and garden hose to rescue four people from a small plane that crashed into a tree in yet another mishap near a busy South Florida airport. 'It was nothing short of heroic,' Angelo Castillo, the mayor of Pembroke Pines in Broward County, said Tuesday. But Castillo is frustrated. He said there have been more than 30 crashes in the past five years on or around North Perry Airport, which serves small planes. A local street is named for 4-year-old Taylor Bishop, one of three people who died when a plane crashed into an SUV in 2021. 'We need better assurances that these planes are not going to keep falling out of the sky,' Castillo said. 'The airport was a dairy farm before World War II. Now it's the busiest general aviation airport in Florida. But within a five-mile radius, there are approximately half a million people.' A pilot and three passengers were approaching the airport in a Cessna T337G when the aircraft crashed into a tree in the Pines Village neighborhood around 8 p.m. Sunday, authorities said. 'Residents put their dinner forks down to get out there,' Castillo said. 'Some had garden hoses to put the fire out. There were cuts and bruises, but all four survived.' Giovanna Hanley said the plane crashed near her mother's house where she was staying. 'Within seconds, my hero Father in Law was breaking glass and pulling out the injured. ... This is personal. This is angering. This is unacceptable,' Hanley said on Facebook, referring to plane crashes. An email seeking comment from North Perry Airport was not immediately answered Tuesday. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash. Castillo, meanwhile, wants an independent investigation of local air safety. 'People are up in arms, and I can't blame them,' he said.