Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Four-year-old boy dies after small plane crashes into SUV
PEMBROKE PINES — She paced the street crying, begging, pleading for someone, anyone to help get her child from the mangled car. Flames from the plane that crashed into her SUV licked the air just 10 feet away.
A man rushed to 35-yearold Megan “Kiki” Bishop urging her to step back from her car.
“Don’t look,” he told her, trying to shield her from images of her son.
“My baby. My baby. Somebody help my baby,” she cried.
Inside the car, the normally chatty little boy was silent.
Four-year-old Taylor Bishop died Monday after the plane crashed while trying to land at the North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines. His mother was taken to the hospital and released later.
Two people on the plane died as well. Authorities have not released their names.
Neighbors in the working class community that abuts the airport felt helpless Monday as Bishop paced and pleaded that her child be saved.
A motorist tugged at the SUV desperately trying to free the boy, said Anabel Fernandez, who lives across the street.
Fernandez’s Ring doorbell captured the plane plowing down onto Bishop’s SUV as she drove up Southwest 72 Avenue, less than a mile and a half from her home.
“We don’t know how it happened, but it happened. It is so sad,” Fernandez said Tuesday.
The six-seat airplane had just taken taken off when, for reasons that are unclear, the pilot decided to head back to the airport. The plane wasn’t in the air long enough or even high enough to be seen on radar at Air Traffic Control towers in
Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
As it headed back to one of the North Perry Airport’s four runways, it clipped a power line and then plowed into the SUV before exploding into flames along the fence that separates the airport from a residential community.
It’s possible the plane was having mechanical issues. It was last seen on radar flying just 20 minutes on March 9, records show
The plane, a Beachcraft Bonanza, had been listed for sale for $299,000. It is registered to Yaacov Nahom of Davie.
Several people gathered at Nahom’s home Tuesday but politely declined to speak with a reporter.
The names of the dead have not been officially released. Members of teacher’s union for the Broward School District, where Bishop is a teacher’s assistant, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel about Bishop and her son’s death.
“Since 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon we have been devastated,” said Anna Marie Pierpont, the union field representative.
Pierpont had met Taylor on many occasions and, like so many, was captivated by his charm and wit.
“He was so smart,” she said.
During a school board workshop Tuesday, board member Ann Murray described the child like this: “This little guy lit up the room — the most amazing comments to crack you up.”
Murray then called for a moment of silence.
Bishop works with special education children at Hollywood Hills Elementary School. Her mother, Gisele Bishop, and sister, Amanda Brasso, had previously worked there, but both now work in the district’s elementary learning department.
“This is definitely a Broward school family tragedy,” Pierpont said. “This is just devastating. My heart aches for what she is going through.”
Union leader Anna Fusco went to the school Tuesday to visit teachers and assistants.
“They’re devastated. They’re handling it the best they can. I don’t know how to explain it. It was so sad,” she said.
“But of course they’ll pull through it for the good of their students. They’re an incredible group,” she said.
Many Hollywood Hills parents learned about Bishop and her son as they were picking their kids up from school about 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Fifth grade student Nyla Denizar, 10, broke the news to her mom, Sonia Denizar, as soon as she saw her after dismissal.
“She was telling me that’s Miss Kiki’s car. I couldn’t believe it. I’m just in shock,” Sonia Denizar said. The mom said she’d never met Bishop, but her daughter described her as “warm and caring.”
Nyla said Bishop often came into her class to work with a student with special needs. Her teacher broke the news of the plane crash, saying something “very sad” had happened. The class was in shock, Nyla said.
“I was getting close to her. She’s very nice,” Nyla said. “Every time someone is down, she’ll do something to cheer them up. She likes to make us laugh. She’s just the nicest person.”
Bishop’s son had a way of making people laugh as well.
Pierpont said she’d like to think that Taylor had the bravado and showmanship of an interviewer or a budding journalist. She said he was particularly fond of doing video chats on Facebook. During the calls, he’d eagerly hold up firetrucks and other toys describing them in great detail.
“He was so engaging and smart, talking a mile minute about his truck. I really think he had a future as an interviewer. He definitely had an air about him and knowledge. ‘This is a truck and this is what it does.’ He always wanted to share information.”
Bishop was a single parent, and her son spent a lot of time at the doctor’s office last year, according to a Facebook post.
Her Facebook page is filled with joyful images of a mother and son with ear-to-ear smiles mostly at the beach.
He was her everything to her, Piermont said.
“He was her valentine. He was her heart and soul,” Piermont said.
Pierpont said Taylor enjoyed going to union meetings and was eager to pass out papers and just be part of the group. “He was just a very happy little man.”