Small plane makes emergency landing
WESTON — A single-engine Cessna 172 made an emergency landing in a field in the Everglades on Thursday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The pilot reported the plane was west of Weston near Everglades Park, about a quarter-mile south of Mile Marker 35 on Interstate 75/Alligator Alley.
Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue responded and discovered the plane had crashed upside down in an area that was not accessible by land, so the firefighterparamedics ventured out through the tall sawgrass in air boats with aerial guidance from a helicopter, said battalion chief Michael B. Kane.
Two men were on board the plane, a pilot and his student both in their mid- to late-20s. Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue did not identify the men. They were tucked underneath the tail section of the overturned plane, which was still in one piece, Kane said.
They were injured but not seriously, and they were able to crawl from the downed plane into the air boats, Kane said.
The men were taken to Cleveland Clinic in Weston and are expected to fully recover, Kane said.
“With the vast number of serious and fatal aircraft accidents which have occurred over the years in the Western Broward Everglades, these pilots were extremely lucky to not only survive an incident such as this, but walk away relatively unscathed,” Kane said in a statement.
The plane is registered to the Delaware Trust Company in Wilmington. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.