Plane That Crashed in Boynton Beach, Killing Pilot, was ‘Devoid of Fuel’ Federal Report Says
The small, single-engine plane that crashed into a Boynton Beach neighborhood on March 6, killing the 67-year-old pilot, may have been flying on empty or near-empty, according to the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary crash report.
Though damaged, the fuel tanks on each wing of the Grumman American Aviation AA-1 Yankee Clipper “showed no evidence of residual fuel inside either of the fuel tanks, there was no odor of fuel, and no observed fuel blight (browning of vegetation)" near the crash site, the NTSB report says. Additionally, federal investigators found only a trace amount of fuel — about two drops — in the engine’s carburetor float bowl.
John R. Pardillo, of Miami-Dade County, was piloting the plane when it crashed in the Dos Lagos community north of Boynton Beach Boulevard and west of Interstate 95 about 1:15 p.m. that Friday. It came to rest on a grassy strip of land between a canal and backyard swimming pool.
In the wreckage at the crash site, investigators found no evidence of a fire or explosion before the plane corkscrewed rapidly while falling from the sky and hitting an 18-foot-high palm tree.
The NTSB report details that the plane took off from Palm Beach County Park Airport in Lantana shortly before 1 p.m. and showed up on radar a few minutes later at an altitude of 1,350 feet. After changing directions and climbing to about 1,700 feet, the aircraft lost speed and began to rapidly descend.
One witness who saw the plane before it crashed told investigators it appeared to “waggle” up and down and seemed to be inverted — with its belly pointing skyward — before rapidly falling from the sky. Another witness who was inside her home with the windows open said she, “heard what she thought sounded like a boat having engine trouble then heard a loud thump,” the crash report says.
The final NTSB report on the crash won’t be released for several months or longer.
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