MIAMI — Authorities released the identity Friday of a Florida man who they say fell out of a private plane, and searchers continued looking for his body in the Atlantic Ocean near Miami.
The pilot of the Piper PA 46 called for help Thursday afternoon, radioing “mayday, mayday, mayday” and telling an air traffic controller that a door was open and a passenger had fallen from the plane. The aircraft had just taken off from Tamiami Executive Airport, located south of Miami, Baez said.
The identity of the pilot has not been released, nor has the intended destination of the plane. Baez said there were only two people on board.
FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said plane was flying at about 2,000 feet, some 8 miles southeast of the Tamiami airport.
Baez said investigators have no evidence of foul play.
According to a report on the website Live ATC.Net, the pilot calmly radioed the air traffic controller. LiveATC.Net provides live air traffic-control broadcasts from control towers and radar facilities around the world.
“I have a door ajar and a passenger that fell down. I’m six miles from Tamiami,” the pilot said.
“You said you’ve got a passenger that fell out of your plane?” the air traffic controller responds.
“That’s correct, sir,” the pilot said. “He opened the back door and he just fell out the plane.”
—-
Miami Herald
MIAMI — The pilot’s call for help was calm, but his message was stunning:
Then, “I have a door ajar and a passenger that fell down.”
“You said you’ve got a passenger that fell out of your plane?” the air traffic controller asked.
“That’s correct, sir,” the pilot responded. “He opened the back door and he just fell down the plane.”
The pilot’s emergency call at 1:30 p.m. Thursday from 2,000 feet in the air set off a frantic, hours-long search for someone who either fell or jumped into ocean east of Key Biscayne. The search by Miami-Dade police, fire rescue and the U.S. Coast Guard ended Thursday night without success.
Marine patrols would resume what is expected to be a recovery mission Friday morning, said Miami-Dade police spokesman Lt. John Jenkins Jr.
Meanwhile, homicide investigators are looking into a presumed death that pilots and aviation experts say occurred under “extremely unusual” circumstances.
“It’s safe to say someone falling out of an airplane without a parachute is going to be deceased,” Jenkins said.
The Piper PA 46 plane remained Thursday night at Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport, where the unidentified pilot landed after making the call that quickly became national news. He was about six miles east of the airport when the unidentified man — the plane’s only passenger — took the plunge, according to the call obtained through the independent website LiveATC.net, which streams live air-traffic communications.
After the pilot arrived back at the airport, he requested emergency services for the passenger. The Federal Aviation Administration contacted the Coast Guard and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, according to FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen. Police and fire rescue began their search for the passenger with helicopters and marine patrol boats.
At first, police had little to go on.
“We have reports — I want to emphasize that, reports — of a passenger of a plane that either jumped or fell several miles out from shore. Homicide at this point is investigating,” said Detective Javier Baez, a Miami-Dade police spokesman. “All that could change.”
By Thursday night, Jenkins said the pilot, who had taken off from Tamiami, was cooperating, and remained with investigators until after dusk. Jenkins declined to release the names of the pilot and passenger, and would not describe their relationship or the reason for the flight.
It was unknown whether anyone at the airport saw the passenger board the aircraft just before it took off.
Bergen said the FAA does not release the names of pilots or passengers, and declined to release the plane’s identification number.
Communications between the pilot and Miami Terminal Radar Approach Control, however, included the plane’s ID, which shows the aircraft is registered to Wings of Flight out of South Miami-Dade. State records show the company is registered to Dennis Haber, who did not respond to requests for an interview.
Eric Weiss, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said his agency was aware of the report and was monitoring the situation.
While someone falling from a plane is a rare event, it does happen, said Stephen Hedges, a spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association — a group that represents more than 400,000 pilots and aircraft owners across the United States.
“It’s extremely unusual,” he said, adding that the only way a plane’s door would open is if it was not latched properly, or someone forced it open. The likelihood of someone falling from a plane and surviving is slim, said Hedges.
Earlier this month, a man died after he chartered a helicopter in Newport Beach, Calif., opened the door and jumped to his death. And in 1994, a woman chartered a plane from Opa-locka, Fla., then jumped out, probably landing near a mangrove swamp close to Biscayne Bay. Investigators never found her body.
There have also been several incidents in which a door has fallen off a plane in midflight, including one last month in Monterey, Calif.
Thursday, police would say only that they were investigating a death. But the passenger’s plunge left questions, including what would prompt someone to open a door in midflight.
“There aren’t very many reasons why you would need to open a door,” said Brian Raistrick, a retired pilot and aviation mechanic. “Something had to have happened.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
