NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla.,None — A National Transportation Safety Board official says a flight instructor and a student from the Phoenix East Aviation flight school are presumed dead after a single-engine plane crashed off Florida's Atlantic coast.
911 CALLS REPORT CRASH: Call #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 PRESS CONFERENCE: NTSB Official On Crash AT THE SCENE: Images Of Pieces Of Plane, Search
NTSB air safety investigator Butch Wilson said Thursday that divers have found what they believe to be the wreckage of the Cessna 172, but no bodies.
A pilot's log book, a wheel and other pieces of wreckage have washed ashore after the single-engine plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in New Smyrna Beach ( see map ) Wednesday evening.
"Don't ask me what caused this accident, 'cause I'm not gonna answer ya," said Butch Wilson of the National Transportation Safety Board during a news conference Thursday at noon. "On February 16, 2011, at about 6:30, a Cessna 172 ... was lost off radar and impacted into the water. The search efforts for the aircraft are still ongoing. There has been some debris washed up onshore since the tide's gone out."
Late Thursday morning, the sheriff's office released four 911 calls made after the plane went down.
"A plane just came straight down and into the ocean," a caller told the 911 dispatcher.
"Ok, it's gone under the water now?"
"Yes it has. It sunk, and I don't see anybody coming up either."
Volusia County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Priscilla Ress said witnesses tried swimming and using Jet Skis to reach the site, but "it was too far for people to get to." Several people called 911 while others rushed to the beach.
"A woman came running from across the beach and said dial 911. She wanted to know if there were any emergency crews here, because they saw an airplane go down," New Smyrna Beach resident Debbie Fratianni told WFTV.
One man even tried to swim to the wreckage, but was overcome by the huge waves and poor visibility.
"He said it looked like a Cessna just nose-dived into the water. He told me he tried to swim out there, but realized it was high tide and couldn't swim out there, said Fratianni. "It was foggy. The fog was already rolling in. You couldn't see anything out there."
The Coast Guard sent two vessels and a helicopter to the scene. The Volusia County Sheriff's Office put up its helicopter, too.
"There was a small booklet with a pilot's license, credit cards and a student agreement for a local school," said Capt. Rich Gardner of the Volusia Beach Patrol.
Rescue teams, including dive teams, resumed their search Thursday morning.
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen says the Cessna 172 was heading from Sarasota to Daytona Beach. Officials have not released the pilot's or passenger's names.
Search teams said they were gathering radar to determine exactly where the two-year-old plane went down. They are reviewing training procedures at the flight school as part of an investigation expected to take 6 months to a year.
WFTV SPEAKS WITH FLIGHT SCHOOL STUDENTS, OFFICIALS
WFTV went to the flight school at Daytona International Airport Thursday to find out more about the flight instructor and student who were involved in a small plane crash in New Smyrna Beach.
"Well, I think it's very sad. We don't know too much about what happened," said student Luis Albarracin.
WFTV learned from the vice president of administration that the two on board were from Norway. The student had aspirations of getting a pilot's license in the United States, and then converting it in Norway so he could work as a commercial airline pilot there.
School officials said he has been training for five months.
"We should keep studying to be better pilots and study better to avoid mistakes or react good to whatever situation you have in the airplane," Albarracin said.
Phoenix East has a staff of roughly 50 instructors and around 250 students attend the flight school. They train in at least 20 Cessna 172 airplanes.
Training flights are conducted each day from 6:00am until midnight. Some of the students from the flight school gathered along the beach near the crash site Thursday.
A commercial airline pilot told WFTV that it's common for students to train over both land and water. Normally, it depends on the planned flight path and where the pilot's headed.
Flight schools also have designated areas where they regularly train.
"If you can think about it, it can happen to anyone. It's very sad," Albarracin said.
School officials said Wednesday was the instructor's 28th birthday.
WFTV
