PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – The two men who were killed when the small airplane they were aboard crashed in Pembroke Pines on Monday have been identified as Grant Hustad, 71 of Fort Lauderdale, and Yaacov Nahom, 63 of Davie.
Both men were registered, experienced pilots and it is not yet clear which was flying the plane.
The county’s medical examiner confirmed their identities Wednesday morning.
Audio of 911 calls from witnesses of the crash was also released Wednesday and can be heard in the video at the top of this page.
A friend of Nahom’s says he leaves behind a wife, three children and two grandchildren.
Hustad is survived by family and neighbors who say they miss him already.
“He was a fastidious, detailed individual and the type of person that if you were in a plane, you’d want him to be the pilot,” said Hustad’s neighbor Bill Ranney.
Hustad lived on a sailboat in the water just off Las Olas Boulvard.
“He was at a point in life that most people dreamed to be at and to have it end so suddenly, so tragically, it’s heartbreaking,” Ranney said of Hustad.
Saul Suarez is a former client and friend of Hustad’s and shared a video of flying with him on a different plane.
“My first reaction was a state of disbelief. It took me a couple of hours for that information to sink in,” Suarez said. “Grant was fantastic. Cool as a cucumber. Very cool guy. The kind of guy you enjoy flying with.”
On Tuesday, it was confirmed that 4-year-old boy Taylor Bishop was also killed in the accident. He was riding in his mother’s SUV when it was hit by the falling plane in the area of Southwest 72nd Avenue and 13th Street, near North Perry Airport. Megan Bishop, a paraprofessional at Hollywood Hills Elementary School, survived.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane was a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza that crashed shortly after it took off from North Perry Airport at approximately 3 p.m. Monday.
Federal investigators removed the last of the wreckage Tuesday.
A former client says Hustad and Nahom worked together on planes, but it’s unclear what they were doing Monday.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
There have been 14 accidents at North Perry over the past five years, with NTSB records showing nearly 30 investigations since 2008.
While calls to shut down the airport go back decades, Broward County Mayor Steve Geller says that’s not the answer.
“Closing this airport isn’t an option it will create more traffic in other places,” Geller said.
Geller on Tuesday called North Perry “a safe airport,” noting that the number of accidents may be in part because it is one of the busiest airports in the state and that a good deal of flight training takes place out of there.
RELATED LINKS
Child who died after plane struck SUV identified as 4-year-old Taylor Bishop
GoFundMe page to support the Bishop family and the funeral services for Taylor