Ocala Pilot's body is recovered from wreck

 

From Sentinel staff reports

Orlando Sentinel

 

Posted January 2, 2005

 

Authorities recovered the body of an Ocala pilot Saturday after his small plane crashed in the Everglades.

 

Jorge Garcia, 31, was the pilot of the single-engine Cessna 210 that went down about 8 p.m. Friday about 20 miles west of Fort Lauderdale, officials said. Garcia's body was recovered by Broward County sheriff's divers.

 

The plane took off from Orlando Executive Airport on its way to the Miami suburb of Opa-locka, Federal Aviation Administration officials said.

 

Deputies found the wreckage about a half-mile south of Alligator Alley in the Everglades, spokesman Hugh Graf said.

 

Graf said the Sheriff's Office first received a call from someone on a cell phone who said he saw lights coming down from the sky. Ten minutes later, an air control tower told the Sheriff's Office that they had lost contact with the Cessna.

 

The plane was registered to Flight Express Inc. of Orlando, an air courier company serving 21 states in the Southeast and Midwest.

 

John Kirchhoefer, the company's president, said Garcia was traveling to the Miami area to pick up cargo. Garcia had worked in Orlando since Aug. 30, after transferring from the company's Cincinnati office.

 

Kirchhoefer said the cause of the accident was not yet known.

 

 

 

Posted on Sun, Jan. 02, 2005

 

 Miami Herold

 

WEST BROWARD

 

BSO recovers body of dead pilot

 

The body of an Ocala man was recovered in western Broward after the single-engine cargo plane he was piloting crashed.

 

BY KEVIN DEUTSCH

 

kdeutsch@herald.com

 

The body of a 31-year-old Ocala man was recovered Saturday morning after his plane crashed in the Everglades in western Broward County Friday night.

 

Jorge Garcia was the pilot and believed to be the sole passenger of the single-engine Cessna 210 cargo plane that crashed about a half mile south of Alligator Alley, near mile marker 28.

 

The Broward Sheriff's Office recovered Garcia's body in shallow water about 4 a.m. Saturday.

 

''From what we saw of the wreckage [Friday night], from the beginning there was very little hope this was going to be a rescue operation,'' said Hugh Graf, a BSO spokesman.

 

The plane, which was owned by Flight Express Inc., an Orlando-based air courier company, took off from Orlando Executive Airport on Friday and was heading to Opa-locka when it crashed about 8 p.m. Air safety investigators are looking into the possibility that bad weather played a role in the crash.

 

THE SEARCH

 

BSO received a cellphone call at 8:08 p.m. Friday from someone who had seen lights in the sky go down just south of Alligator Alley.

 

About 10 minutes later, an air traffic control tower in Miami told the sheriff's office that they had lost contact with a small plane.

 

Local authorities searched the area. BSO's dive team, marine unit, crime scene investigators, deputies and homicide detectives responded, as did the Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

 

At 9:20 p.m., a BSO helicopter spotted the wreckage in the water, Graf said.

 

According to the company's website, Flight Express serves the Southeast and Midwest. Its clients include banks, newspapers and overnight freight-delivery companies. It has about 100 planes in its fleet. John Kirchhoefer, president of Flight Express, said Garcia was traveling to the Miami area to pick up cargo, according to The Associated Press.

 

Garcia had worked at the company for only a few months, said his sister, Martha Frook.

 

In June, Garcia married his fiancée Jackie and moved from his hometown of Kansas City to Ocala, Frook said.

 

Garcia had a degree in aviation from Saint Louis University in Missouri, and had been flying airplanes since his college days, his sister said. His goal was to become a pilot for a large passenger airline.

 

''Flying was his passion,'' said Frook. ``He was very happy with his job.''

 

Garcia's regular flight route was from Orlando to Miami-Dade. He'd never been involved in a crash before, Frook said.

 

The Broward Medical Examiner's Office was expected to conduct an autopsy.

 

Flight Express is responsible for removing the debris, said National Transportation Safety Board air safety investigator John Lovell.

 

POSSIBLE CAUSES

 

The wind was ''blowing pretty badly'' at the time of the crash, Lovell told WSVN-Fox 7. Lovell said he would try to determine whether the plane had flown into a storm cell.

 

He said the plane had mowed down grass in the area, which, he said, ``suggested that the engine and propeller was turning when he impacted.''

 

The NTSB and FAA will also examine such factors as pilot performance, maintenance, and cargo loading, said Kathleen Bergen, an FAA spokeswoman in Atlanta.

 

''It will be looked at very thoroughly,'' she said. ``Our goal is to prevent this type of thing from happening again.''

 

A NTSB report on the accident could take six to eight months, Lovell said.

 

Herald Staff Writer Jerry Berrios contributed to this report. 

 

 

 

Body of crashed plane’s pilot found in Everglades

 

Sun-Sentinel.com

Posted January 1 2005, 6:04 PM EST

 

FORT LAUDERDALE -- Rescue workers recovered the body of a pilot in the Everglades early Saturday after a New Year's Eve crash a half mile south of Alligator Alley, a Broward Sheriff's Office spokesman said.

 

Jorge Garcia, 31, of Ocala, was flying the single-engine Cessna 210 that witnesses saw fall from the sky about 8 p.m. Friday, Sheriff's Office spokesman Hugh Graf said. Sheriff's Office divers used state wildlife officers' airboats to reach the wreckage, which was submerged in three feet of muck and spread over approximately 75 yards.

 

Sun-Sentinel.com

Broward County news briefs

Posted January 2 2005

 

Broward County

 

Body of crashed plane's pilot found in Everglades

 

Rescue workers recovered the body of a pilot in the Everglades early Saturday after a New Year's Eve crash a half mile south of Alligator Alley, a Broward Sheriff's Office spokesman said.

 

Jorge Garcia, 31, of Ocala, was flying the single-engine Cessna 210 that witnesses saw fall from the sky about 8 p.m. Friday, Sheriff's Office spokesman Hugh Graf said. Sheriff's Office divers used state wildlife officers' airboats to reach the wreckage, which was submerged in three feet of muck and spread over approximately 75 yards.

 

The plane belonged to Flight Express Inc., an Orlando-based air-courier company serving customers such as banks, publishers and overnight freight delivery companies.

 

Company President John Kirchhoefer said Garcia was flying to Opa-locka Airport to pick up cargo. Garcia had worked in Orlando since August after transferring from the company's Cincinnati office.

 

The cause of the crash is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

 

The plane belonged to Flight Express Inc., an Orlando-based air-courier company serving customers such as banks, publishers, and overnight freight delivery companies.

 

Company President John KirchhoeferÖ said Garcia was flying to Opa-locka Airport to pick up cargo. Garcia had worked in Orlando since August after transferring from the company's Cincinnati office.

 

The cause of the crash is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

 

 

Ocala Man Dies In Plane Crash

1/1/2005

 

By The Associated Press

 

Authorities recovered the body of an Ocala pilot Saturday after his small plane crashed in the Everglades.

 

Jorge Garcia, 31, was the pilot of the single-engine Cessna 210 that went down around 8 p.m. Friday about 20 miles west of Fort Lauderdale, officials said. Garcia's body was recovered by Broward Sheriff's office divers early Saturday.

 

The plane took off from Orlando Executive Airport on its way to the Miami suburb of Opa-locka, Federal Aviation Administration officials said.

 

Sheriff's deputies found the wreckage about a half mile south of Alligator Alley in the Everglades, spokesman Hugh Graf said.

 

Graf said the sheriff's office first received a call from someone on a cell phone who said he saw lights coming down from the sky. Ten minutes later, an air control tower told the sheriff's office that they had lost contact with the Cessna.

 

The plane was registered to Flight Express Inc. of Orlando, an air courier company serving 21 states in the Southeast and Midwest.

 

John Kirchhoefer, the company's president, said Garcia was traveling to the Miami area to pick up cargo. Garcia had worked in Orlando since Aug. 30, 2004, after transferring from their Cincinnati office.

 

Kirchhoefer said the cause of the accident was not yet known. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. An NTSB spokesman in Miami did not immediately return a phone message Saturday.