Federal investigators say an in-flight engine fire likely triggered the small-plane crash that tore into the Bayside Waters mobile-home park in Clearwater on Feb. 1, 2024, killing three people. The report also finds that the pilot’s struggle to locate Clearwater Airpark while trying to land during the emergency made a bad situation even worse.
The conclusion appears in a federal report released today, according to the Tampa Bay Times, which reports that investigators determined the evidence points to an in-flight engine fire as the initiating event. The Times also notes that the pilot’s inability to find the airport’s runway squeezed an already tight emergency window.
In its earlier preliminary report, the NTSB laid out a tense final timeline: the Beechcraft V35B departed Vero Beach on an IFR flight plan, canceled IFR near Clearwater, then the pilot radioed on the common traffic advisory frequency that he could not find the airport and asked that the runway lights be turned on. The preliminary document also records the pilot saying, “I’m losing engine,” the squawk of a 7700 emergency transponder code, and several videos that captured a bright light or “fireball” before impact, according to the NTSB’s preliminary report…