‘A giant boom’: 4 dead after 2 planes collide near Central Florida lake
By WESH Staff
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WINTER HAVEN, Florida (WESH) — Four people are dead after two small planes collided near a Central Florida lake on Tuesday, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
Winter Haven police and Winter Haven fire responded to Lake Hartridge at 2 p.m. when crews began a search by water and air.
The sheriff’s office identified the four victims as 24-year-old flight instructor Faith Baker, 19-year-old Polk State College student Zachary Mace, 67-year-old Randall Crawford from Pennsylvania and 78-year-old Louis Defazio of Texas.
“It was an in-air collision and both planes immediately went into the water,” Polk County Chief Steve Lester said.
Investigators said Baker and Mace were in the Cherokee Piper 161 plane operated by Sunrise Aviation/Polk State College. Crawford and Defazio were reportedly in the Piper J-3 Cub seaplane operated by Jack Brown’s Seaplane Base in Winter Haven.
“My heart goes out to the families and friends of those who were killed in today’s crash,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
Caridad Fernandez lives off the lake where the planes went down.
“All of a sudden it was a giant boom,” Fernandez said. “It literally sounded like when a rocket takes off and hits the atmosphere.”
She ran outside along with many of her neighbors.
“We pretty much saw everything hit the water,” Fernandez said.
She said no one was sure what had happened at first. But it wasn’t long before the lake was teeming with law enforcement.
“It was just helicopter after helicopter after police siren. Everyone just kind of came in,” Fernandez said.
The crash is a tragic event. And an unsettling one for the people who spend a lot of time on the lake where it happened.
“There’s kids on our lake, there’s people who jet ski on our lake,” Fernandez said. “That’s the lake I grew up on. That’s something where we would go tubing and everything else and now it’s kind of terrifying.”
The NTSB and FAA will investigate the cause and circumstances of the collision.
Officials said Wednesday that three of the four victims have been recovered. The planes will be pulled from the water and brought to another location for a forensic investigation.
A preliminary report will be released in two to three weeks. A probable cause report will come months later.
Officials say the Cherokee Piper was doing pattern work, practicing “touch and go” maneuvers.
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