Plane struggled to take off days before Pembroke Pines crash, student pilot says
A student pilot involved in last week’s plane crash near a state hospital told Pembroke Pines police the same aircraft experienced takeoff problems days before the accident, according to an incident report.
The report says the student pilot told officers she and her instructor attempted to fly the aircraft the week before the May 29 crash, but aborted the class because, “the aircraft was not gaining enough speed.”
The student pilot said that while in the air just after taking off from North Perry Airport, they noticed engine failure, then began to nose-dive and crashed.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the accident remains under investigation as of June 4.
The student pilot told police that the “Chief” — city commissioner Jay D. Schwartz — was in charge of fixing the plane. She added that this was the only plane used by his company, Blue Sky Aviation.
She told police the plane was not “accelerating properly during takeoff” during the May 29 flight, but the instructor “decided to take off, and shortly after, the plane crashed.”
Schwartz declined to comment Thursday to the Pembroke Pines News when asked about the student’s statements about the aircraft’s maintenance history.
The crash happened shortly before 11:30 a.m. according to the Federal Aviation Administration and police report.
The aircraft, identified as a 1983 Cessna 172P, is owned by Blue Sky Aviation, a flight school based at North Perry Airport.
The school is led by Schwartz, who serves as its president and chief operating officer.
During the June 3 Pembroke Pines City Commission meeting, Schwartz addressed the crash for the first time, thanking first responders and good Samaritans who assisted after the aircraft went down.
“I want to just make a brief statement regarding an event that happened in my private life on Friday,” Schwartz said. “I am keenly aware of the conversations occurring and statements being made and at this time I am working with the agencies that are assigned.”
The city’s fire department bestowed the Civilian Special Recognition Award to Nathan Gansert, who works at Broward Health Medical Center, witnessed the crash and assisted the two women out of the plane.
“I was driving south on University (Drive) going back home. I see this plane above me and it looked like it was losing altitude and … I was like, ‘Man, this thing is looking raggedy as heck right now,’” Gansert said during the meeting.
“When I kept looking back, I noticed I didn’t see it in the sky anymore.”
Gansert told police that he immediately responded to help and saw two female passengers exiting the plane. He said that he remained with the women and tried to keep them calm until first responders arrived.
Ernesto Leon, a flight school owner who witnessed the plane taking off, told police he believed the aircraft experienced a loss of engine power at about 300 feet.
Leon told police he heard the engine stall, adding “the pilot took a pitch down to avoid crashing into the building,” according to the report.
“Nathan, you saved my girls,” Schwartz told Gansert. “We train hard for outcomes like these. It’s a pilot’s creed to do no harm. We’ll put it in a tree, we’ll put it anywhere other than property and it was executed flawlessly.”
