National Transportation Safety Board investigators have begun working to find out what caused a small plane, towing an advertising banner, to crash into a Fort Lauderdale condominium.
The Friday morning crash killed the pilot, who has yet to be identified.
Investigator Tim Monville said the NTSB has talked with the FAA and the owner of the banner-towing company, Aerial Banners Inc., along with several witnesses.
The wreckage of the plane, a Piper PA-25, was removed from the pool deck of the Berkley South condominium, an 18-story condo building at 3015 N. Ocean Blvd.
“We were able to recover the wreckage from the top of the structure,” Monville said. “We also inspected the [condo] units impacted by the airplane and identified some pieces of the aircraft that were inside the one unit, specifically.”
The wreckage was lowered to a flatbed trailer on State Road A1A about 10 a.m. Saturday and was taken away for examination by noon, he said. The days ahead will be spent interviewing witnesses and looking for more surveillance videos from neighboring buildings along the beach.
The plane’s engine was to be examined Sunday, he said, adding that it’s too soon to say what caused the crash.
Dozens of passers-by watched the plane recovery operation Saturday morning, slowing traffic along southbound A1A to take pictures of the bright yellow wreckage.
The NTSB investigation will include the pilot’s performance, all pilot training records, and company maintenance practices, which are standard investigation requirements.
“We do that routinely,” Monville said.
The officials of the banner towing company have been very supportive and responsive, he said, adding that the identity of the pilot will be released by police or the Broward Medical Examiner.
“We don’t have the FAA air traffic audio yet but I will get that [and] we will ask for radar data that will show how low the plane was flying,” Monville said. “We also know the company had a tracking system in place where they can track their own aircraft and so they’re going to provide me with that data, as well.”
Getting all that usually takes about two weeks, he said.
The banner plane, which had been flying up and down the beach, struck the condo on the east side between the 16th or 17th floor at 11:42 a.m. Friday, said Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Stephan Gollan.
“The occupant of that condo was in there at the time but was not injured,” he said.
There were about 20 construction workers on the pool deck at the time but none of them was injured by the plane’s falling debris, Gollan said.
wkroustan@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4303 or Twitter @WayneRoustan
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