PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – A banner plane crashed at North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines Thursday, the second crash of a banner plane in Broward County in less than two weeks, both involving the same company and same plane type.
The pilot reportedly survived. Images from Sky 10 show the plane broken apart in a grassy area.
Firefighters later pulled the pilot from the plane and loaded him into an ambulance. The pilot was alert as he was being transported.
His condition “was stable but (he) sustained significant injuries,” Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue Division Chief Scott Gunn said in an email relayed by the city’s police department.
The plane, a Piper PA-25-260, is registered to Aerial Banners Inc. according to Federal Aviation Administration records. The company’s 800 number was on the plane’s fuselage.
A witness said just before the crash, the plane dove to pick up a banner and, just as it was going up into the air, appeared to have stalled and came crashing down in the grass.
A banner plane pilot, also from Aerial Banners, was killed after crashing on North Park Road in Hollywood on May 17. That plane had also taken off from North Perry Airport.
That plane was also a single-engine Piper PA-25-235.
Local 10 News spoke with Aerial Banners President Bob Benyo after the crash.
“It is horrifying, especially after last weeks event,” he said.
Benyo said the pilot, who hasn’t been publicly identified, is experienced, with more than 1,000 hours of banner tow time.
Local 10 News asked whether he was concerned about the two crashes happening so close together.
“Is that a serious question?” Benyo asked. “Yes. Of course it is a concern. We are doing our own investigation alongside the NTSB and The FAA.”
Benyo said his company’s pilot is expected to make a full recovery.