ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A man, woman and a dog were transported for treatment of injuries Thursday evening in a small place crash that occurred just outside Northeast Florida Regional Airport.
St. Johns County Fire Rescue, the St. Augustine Fire Department and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene in a wooded area off U.S. Highway 1. The small place caught fire, which Fire Rescue said was quickly extinguished.
The Florida Highway Patrol said the crash occurred shortly after take off from the airport. The pilot, identified as a 61-year-old St. Johns County man, was said to have critical injuries,. The passenger, a 59-year-old St. Johns County woman, had serious injuries.
Fire Rescue said the dog was receiving treatment at a vet. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Witnesses say the plane, a Piper Malibu, barely made it off the ground after takeoff, skimming over the highway.
Laura Greene and her son Dalton were driving when they noticed the plane struggling to gain altitude.
“It looked like it barely made it over the fence,” Laura Greene said.
“It almost hit the top of the trees, and then it went down,” her son said.
Lillian Romedy and her sister Delany were at home when the plane came down just feet from their house.
“We’re watching TV and then all of a sudden we hear this loud crash,” Romedy said. “We look out the window and all the trees are bursting in flames.”
Witnesses we spoke with said that right after the plane crashed, they saw multiple people getting out of their cars on U.S. 1 and then running through the wooded area, helping the people who were on board get out.
“We saw people jumping out of their cars and running towards the forest,” said Dalton Greene. “After the police came, we saw a bunch of people come out with bruises and cuts. One guy was coughing from all the smoke.”
News4JAX aviation expert Ed Booth said based on what eyewitnesses said, it appears the plane suffered an engine problem or a flight control problem.
The plane took off from Runway 2-4, which is only 2,700 feet long — making it the shortest runway at the airport. Booth says National Transportation Safety Board investigators will be looking into whether the flaps were set for a short takeoff. He also says investigators will look to see if the engine was producing enough power.
Investigators will likely return to the scene Friday to have the wreckage moved to an airplane hangar where they can continue their investigation.