Mystery surrounding the Clearwater plane crash that killed three people

CLEARWATER — It was just after 7 p.m. on Thursday, and residents of the Bayside Waters 55+ community were finishing dinner, grabbing their bingo chips and heading out into the cool night air for a drink. A plane fell from the sky.

It sounded like the engine was sputtering. The plane whizzed over their heads and plummeted toward a neighborhood whose curving lanes were packed with manufactured housing. From above, the park looks like dominoes laid flat on a table.

The pilot had taken off from Vero Beach about an hour earlier, according to FlightAware.com. Something went wrong over Pinellas County. He looped and reversed.

He called on the radio that he was going to St. Petersburg's Albert Whitted Airport. The pilot could not see another runway. He was about to lose his only engine. A few seconds later, I heard another swearing voice. Air traffic recordings posted online have choppy audio. “Please hit the ground hard. It's on fire.”

Later, “It appears he entered the building.''

The plane, a small Beechcraft Bonanza V35, crashed with a roar, shaking homes in Bayside Waters and sending flames skyward. The complex is wedged between Route 19 and Tampa Bay, approximately 2 miles from Clearwater Air Park and 5 miles from St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport.

“The fireball was taller than a pine tree,” said Carmen Rossi, 68.

“There were sparks flying,” Marie Giacovini, 67, said.

Maris Avery said the heat was unbearable even when she was 100 feet away.

The pilot and two people inside the home were killed when the plane hit, authorities said. Investigators have not released their identities. Police said up to nine people were inside the home shortly before the accident. But most people narrowly and unconsciously avoided disaster and left.

At least three homes were damaged, one of which was completely destroyed. No one was hospitalized, police said. The pilot was the only person on board the plane, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The mystery had few answers Friday, but it began to unravel late Thursday in the glare of strobe emergency lights.

Impossibly, this airplane, in a complex full of double-span, two-seat planes, derives most of its power from just one pair of double-span, double-row, double-row, double-row, double-row, double-row, double-row, double-row, double-row, double-row, It was concentrated on one double-row, double-width, double-row. It nosedived, missing other homes and trees, and crashed into a 1,032-square-foot home at 2647 Pagoda Drive. It's a few football fields away from Route 19 in one direction and the waters of Tampa Bay in the other.

The explosion left the front half of the house smoldering and collapsing. There were two houses just a few steps to the right or left. So did the flagpole in the front yard and the Norway pine that towered over the rubble.

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By Friday, federal agents had arrived in Clearwater and began investigating the cause of the plane crash. The National Transportation Safety Board requires him to prepare a preliminary report within 30 days.

The agency typically focuses on three factors that cause crashes: the pilot, the environment, and the plane itself.

There is little up-to-date information on victims or causes.

Federal aviation records show the plane was built in 1979 and owned by Control Data, an Indianapolis-based company.

The company's owner is a licensed commercial pilot and lives in Melbourne Beach, but efforts to break into the business failed on Friday. Calls to the company number went directly to voicemail.

A woman who answered the phone number listed for the owner's address declined to comment.

Todd Sher, a spokesman for Vero Beach Regional Airport, where the plane took off, said he has directed Clearwater police to a contractor who will maintain the plane. A spokesperson for the contractor declined to comment.

Neighbors said the home on Pagoda Drive had been rented.

Reporters made multiple attempts to contact the property owner by phone and email. No one responded to requests for comment.

Residents share rumors and questions

A Bayside Waters resident was walking his dog Friday morning near police tape surrounding the accident scene. The smell of smoke lingered on the wind.

Neighbors exchanged rumors and stories about where they were when the fireball erupted.

Some people were playing bingo in the clubhouse. Some people were having dinner or resting for the night when they were surprised by the commotion.

The complex advertises the “Florida lifestyle.” American flags fly next to Canadians, and it's not uncommon to hear Midwestern accents in casual conversations. people live close to each other.

“None of us are sleeping,” said Rachel Roach, 63. She remembered Thursday night when she saw a neighbor struggling to put out the fire with a garden hose. She went to check on the man Friday morning, but she was turned away by police.

David McAnally, 65, stood in his garden wearing sweatpants and watched as others took in the scene. He was turning on the evening news when a plane roared overhead. He said something to his wife that was strange.

“You've heard people say, 'Unless a plane falls out of the sky and lands on your head,'” he said. “Well, it just happened.”

McAnally said after seeing the charred ruins during the day, he wondered what firefighters would recover from inside.

Times staff writers Lauren Peace, Lane DeGregory, Justin Garcia, Jay Kridlin and Ian Hodgson contributed to this report.