WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A small plane crashed into a residential neighborhood in Lake Worth Beach Monday afternoon, narrowly missing homes, clipping a palm tree, and grazing a moving car carrying a family of five.
Authorities said the crash happened shortly before 4:30 p.m. near High Ridge Road and Lake Osborne Drive, just a mile from Palm Beach County Park Airport, where the aircraft had departed minutes earlier.
Surveillance video obtained by Local 10 News Tuesday shows the single-engine aircraft falling from the sky, slamming into the pavement, and coming to a stop on the sidewalk.
“I walked outside and I’m like what the heck woah!” said Tracey Getson, who lives just steps from where the plane went down. “Yeah never seen anything like that over here before.”
According to the aircraft’s registered owner, Valiair, the plane was in the area for routine maintenance and was returning to its primary base abroad when the pilots experienced an engine failure shortly after takeoff.
“We know the aircraft was in the area for routine maintenance, before returning to its primary operating base abroad. On this flight the pilots experienced an engine outage shortly after takeoff and were forced to perform an emergency landing,” the company said in a statement.
The wreckage was towed away Tuesday afternoon, leaving behind damaged sidewalk and debris. The plane reportedly clipped the top of a palm tree, grazed a gray sedan, and came to a rest near a home.
Authorities confirmed five people were inside the sedan — a mother, her two adult daughters, and two young sons — who were on their way home from a Costco trip when the crash occurred. They said all the individuals were transported to a hospital as a precaution and have since been released.
“The sheriff’s going down through here with lights and sirens … we don’t have that very often in our community,” said neighbor June Bingham, who heard the crash.
An incident report identified the injured family as Anita Cardenas, 46; Julisa Domingo Cardenas, 26; Maria Domingo Cardenas, 24; Jose Domingo Cardenas, 11; and Anthony Domingo Cardenas, 8 — all of Greenacres.
The pilot and co-pilot of the plane, who were identified as Duncan A. MacLaren, 29, of Delray Beach, and Thomas L. Peters, 51, of Oranjestad, Aruba, were transported as trauma alerts to St. Mary’s Medical Center.
Authorities said both men sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were alert after the crash.
“One had a cut on his head, the other person was sitting there just fine and they were being loaded into the ambulance and taken away,” Bingham said.
MacLaren’s father told Local 10 News that his son has since returned to work.
Authorities said the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
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