MARATHON, Fla. – Two of the three people who were taken to Miami hospitals Thursday following a plane crash in Marathon have been released from the hospital, Jackson Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Lidia Amoretti said on Friday.
Monroe County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Becky Herrin said four people were aboard the Piper PA-32 Thursday afternoon when it crashed in a wooded area on the back side of Florida Keys Marathon International Airport.
According to authorities, two people were airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center and one person was airlifted to Jackson South Community Hospital.
The left rear passenger, Tony Lewis, 60, of Lakeland, suffered minor injuries and was not airlifted to the hospital.
The pilot, Roch D'Aoust, of Panama City Beach, and two of his passengers, Derrick Kelley, 53, of Auburndale, and Danny Gilileo, 49, of Aburndale, were identified as those who were injured in the crash.
Amoretti would not confirm which victim remained hospitalized Friday.
"I was just shocked by the news and my first thought was, is he alive?" Mike Scott, who used to work with the pilot, said. "And I heard that he was and from the information, it did not appear to be life-threatening."
Scott described the pilot as a good guy who is very low key.
"(He is) extremely thorough and meticulous and methodical in his approach," Scott said. "Just a really good guy. The kind of guy that, from my perspective, would make a very good pilot, because I know flying planes you have to be extremely meticulous. I just don't know what happened to the plane."
One of the passengers told authorities that the plane caught a gust of wind as they lifted off, causing it to be blown over into the tree line on the west side of the runway.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the same plane struck multiple trees with its wings on Feb. 17, 2012, in Swainsboro, Georgia.
In that case, the NTSB said the pilot was flying too low, causing both wings to strike trees about 2,400 feet before the runway threshold.
The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate Thursday's crash and the NTSB will determine the cause of the accident.