Naples pilots react to deadly plane crash

Reporter: Amy Galo
Published: Updated:
Lea este artículo en Noticias WINK
Plane crash on I-75. CREDIT: WINK News
Plane crash on I-75. CREDIT: WINK News

Pilots at Naples Airport reacted to the deadly plane crash in Collier County on Friday.

Tracking the plane’s tail number, N823KD, the flight, a Bombardier Challenger 600, appeared to have been headed to the Naples Airport from Ohio State Executive Airport, according to FlightAware.

Two of the pilots told WINK News that this must have been a freak accident.

One of the pilots who works with Jet One, a charter company in our area, said that the pilots would have had seconds, not minutes, to make a decision. That’s because they were at a low altitude and also not traveling with much speed.

The other pilot, who also flies a Challenger plane, said that these planes are pretty reliable. She’s in disbelief that this happened.

She also said she received messages from people who use planes like these who said that they are now nervous to get on one.

Another pilot told WINK what it was like to see this all unfold from the sky.

Dakota said he had been listening to the same radio frequency that the plane that crashed on I-75 was for about 10 minutes as he and his dad were making their way back to Naples in a small plane.

But as they were getting ready to land, air traffic control asked them to turn around, and shortly after that, the first may-day call came in from the pilot, saying he needed to do an emergency landing.

“Right away, the ATC came back and said, ‘Clear to land runway 23,’ and he instantly said, ‘I’m not going to make it.’ It probably was maybe 30 seconds max before I heard that call to when I saw an explosion. After that, everyone got real quiet.”

Dakota said he thinks the pilot made the right decision, choosing to crash land on I-75. He said it all happened so fast that he didn’t really have another option, but this was the safest.

The crash happened sometime between 3:12 and 3:15 p.m., Friday.

The airport is located about three miles from the crash scene.

Air traffic is continuing as scheduled.

Stay tuned to WINKNews.com, WINK News App, streaming, and on air for any new developments on this story.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.