A small aircraft carrying 5 folks crashed on Interstate 75 close to Naples, Florida, on Friday afternoon, bursting into flames and killing two folks, officers mentioned. They mentioned three of these on board have been in a position to exit the aircraft.
The aircraft, a Bombardier Challenger 600 collection jet, crashed on the freeway round 3:15 pm, the Federal Aviation Administration. he said in a statement. It was not instantly clear if the aircraft crashed into any automobiles or if anybody on the bottom was injured.
Images and video footage from the scene present the plane's fuselage on fireplace and a big plume of smoke rising above the crash web site.
The plane departed from the Ohio State College Airport in Columbus, Ohio, mentioned Robin King, the director of communications for the Naples airport.
“They have been scheduled to land about 3:15 right here in Naples, and about two or three minutes earlier than that, our tower bought phrase from the pilots that that they had, , misplaced each engines,” Ms. King mentioned. “We don't know precisely what it means. We've misplaced contact.”
The aircraft crashed two to 3 miles from the airport, Ms. King mentioned. Three of the 5 folks on the aircraft have been in a position to get off the aircraft, he added.
An Ohio State College spokesman mentioned the aircraft was not affiliated with the college.
A six-mile stretch of Interstate 75 will probably be closed for at the least 24 hours, in keeping with the Collier County Sheriff's Workplace, and native officers have inspired folks to keep away from the realm whereas the FAA and Nationwide Security Council of Transport investigated. Florida Freeway Patrol troopers have been additionally on the scene.
Greater than two hours after the crash, freeway cameras confirmed dozens of autos caught in visitors, unable to get round a number of legislation enforcement autos on the scene.
The aircraft, which officers mentioned had registration quantity N823KD, was scheduled to journey to Fort Lauderdale from Naples on Friday afternoon, in keeping with FlightAware, a flight monitoring web site.
A Challenger 604 with registration quantity N823KD is listed as a part of a fleet maintained by Hop-A-Jet Worldwide Jet Constitution, a personal jet constitution firm based mostly in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The jet can carry as much as 12 passengers, in keeping with the corporate, which didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon Friday.
Jesus Jimenez contributed report, and Susan C. Beachy contributed analysis.
