Naples golfer witnesses plane crash aftermath from the links; shares videos
A Naples woman was golfing at Wyndemere Country Club in Naples when she heard a horrific crash and explosion and turned her phone's camera toward the site, capturing billowing black smoke and sky-high flames on video.
Around 3 p.m. Friday, a small charter plane that flew from Columbus, Ohio, was attempting to land at Naples Regional Airport when the pilot radioed the control tower. He told them that the plane had lost both engines and wouldn't make the runway, located more than 4 miles away.
The plane crashed on Interstate 75 near Exit 105 in Naples within minutes of the radio call, at 3:12 p.m. according to the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. The first 911 call registered at 3:14 p.m.; emergency responders arrived on the scene by 3:17 p.m.
Brianna Walker, 26, of Fort Lauderdale, told the New York Times in an interview Friday that as she headed home from Fort Myers she witnessed the plane crash into several cars and the retaining wall.
“It looked like it was trying to hit the median,” Walker said. “It starts sliding across the highway, takes a car with it, the wing comes down, crushes another car and throws it into the median, and then it hits the concrete and immediately burst into flames.”
Walker posted a video to Twitter that seemed to show a person running from the plane, an explosion of fire starkly limning their body, a dark shadow of a person against orange and red.
Collier County Sheriff's Office told The News-Press / Naples Daily News that two died in the crash. Other officials said the plane carried five people.
One person on I-75, where the plane crashed hitting at least one car, suffered injuries.
Naples plane crash witness shares videos
Janet Pasternack, who had been golfing on the other side of the retaining wall the plane crashed into, submitted three short videos to the Naples Daily News. Her first video showed jet-black smoke billowing upwards as flames licked above the retaining wall that separates the club from the interstate.
In one video Pasternack shared, a helicopter's blades rotate overhead as emergency sirens pierce the otherwise-peaceful golf course.
Another video, shot from farther away and shows 16 seconds of billowing black smoke. As the video rolls, a woman notes that it has continued for several minutes.
A third video, at 24 seconds, pans the golf course, showing the thick black smoke drifting across the landscape as the narrator expresses hopes for those involved in the crash.
Witnesses to the crash or those who have surveillance video or other information that could be relevant to the investigation are asked to contact the National Transportation Safety Board at witness@ntsb.gov.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Naples, Florida plane crash videos from witness show aftermath on I-75
