Plane crash concerns those living near Lantana airport
Fatal crash in nearby park sparks fears of more incidents.
Megan Ornelas grew up in her grandparents’ home, close to the Lantana airport and Lake Worth’s John Prince Park, the site where a twin-engine Cessna 335 crashed on Sept. 9, killing the pilot and his wife.
“Many families go to that park,” said Ornelas, an 18-year-old who details cars for a living. “Luckily, it crashed in a wooded area where there wasn’t many people or kids.”
But she hears and sees the helicopters and small planes up close — and it frightens her.
“I love him with all of my heart and would want nothing to happen to him,” she said of her grandfather, who still lives near the airport. “I’m really worried about safety in the area.”
Ornelas is not alone.
Several residents who live close to the airport share the concerns.
Less than a mile from the airport, William Coakley, a 71-yearold former pilot lives in Lake Osborne Estates, a residential community on Lake Osborne Drive. He says sometimes planes are less than 100 feet over homes flying around the general aviation airport on Lantana Road just west of Interstate 95.
“If you have engine problems at that point, you’re going to kill somebody somewhere because there is no place to land,” he said.
Coakley said he documented an incident where a training aircraft was flying about 16 feet above cars in Lantana.
Coakley said he fears for his life. “They’ve been over my roof at
50 feet,” he said.
The low-flying planes and helicopters above Lake Osborne Estates have been an issue for residents in recent years because of the noise.
Nearby at the Mar-Mak Colony Club mobile home community just east of the Lake Worth Drive-In in Lake Worth, Maria Cortes can’t shake the horrific memory of a 2015 crash in her neighborhood.
Cortes, who has lived there for 12 years, remembers when Banny Galicia, a 21-year-old Palm Beach State College student, was killed while sleeping in her bedroom when a single-engine Piper PA-28 crashed into Galicia’s trailer park home as the plane was coming in for a landing on Oct. 13, 2015.
“We saw the fire,” she said. “Yes, I’m nervous there will be more plane crashes. Some people here have moved because of that crash.”
Domingo Galicia, Banny’s father, told The Post in 2015 while sifting through the burnt wreckage that was once his daughter’s room, that “one minute she was sleeping, the next, she’s dead.”
A very busy airport
Palm Beach County Park in Lantana is among the five main public airports in the county. The others are Palm Beach International Airport near West Palm Beach, North Palm Beach County Airport in unincorporated Palm Beach Gardens, the Boca Raton Airport Authority and the Belle Glade State Municipal Airport.
The Lantana airport is the second busiest in the county for general aviation flights with 126,750 operations in a year, highlighted by 52,908 commercial operations. Built right before World War II, the Office of Civilian Defense determined the location was best for planes conducting off-shore patrols for Axis powers submarines along the Florida coast.
With three runways laid out in a triangle, the airport is small and does not have a control tower.
It has been in the national news on more than one occasion:
■ Less than a month before the 2001 terrorist attacks, Mohamed Atta rented a four-seat Piper Archer single-engine plane for 90-minute flights from Palm Beach Flight Training at the airport. He rented a plane four times. The Egyptian hijacker was one of the ringleaders of the attack and served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11 that crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
■ Business at the airport takes huge hits in the winter when President Donald Trump visits his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. Severe air traffic restrictions are in place and the airport is effectively shut down. Palm Beach County Airports Director Bruce Pelly told commissioners that one business, Palm Beach Aircraft Services, has estimated it will lose $2 million a year at Lantana because of flight restrictions.
■ Last year, the county maintained its decadesold ban on jets at the airport despite a determination by the Federal Aviation Administration that found small jets could safely land there. The challenge was prompted by 76-year-old retired Eastern Airlines pilot Errol Forman, of Hypoluxo, who wanted to land his private jet there.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, there have been eight crashes at or in the vicinity of the airport in the past six years. Since 1982, the airport has been linked to 50 crashes involving 53 aircraft, according to the NTSB.
Boca’s airport has had 28 crashes in that span. North County Airport, which opened in 1994, has had 19 crashes in its history, according to the NTSB. But neither are as busy as Lantana’s.
Jonathan Miller, owner of Stellar Aviation in Lantana, said he understands residents’ concerns.
“They’re most vocal about the noise from helicopters and aircraft flying over their homes,” he said, “But if you have a house that’s on the approach or departure of an airport, you’re going to see and hear airplanes. It’s just a fact of life.”
Dan Crowe, president of Palm Beach Helicopters at the airport, said that operators are doing the best they can.
“We have policies and procedures to fly neighborly,” he said. “We have to be at least 500 feet before we get off the airport and then we fly patterns at 1,000 feet.”
Philip Castronova, 70, the pilot who died in last Sunday’s crash, had his license revoked 21 years ago by the FAA, according to records obtained by The Palm Beach Post. His wife, Mandy Castronova, did not have a pilot’s license, either, according to the FAA’s website.
Marc Rossi used to own a flight school and rented out planes at the North County Airport. Safety checks are in place. When someone rents a plane, they must have their license on file, a medical certificate and proof of re-certification.
“There’s a bunch of documentation they would have to have before we would allow them to rent an airplane,” Rossi said.
Lots of aircraft
Airport officials declined to speak with The Post. But a commercial pilot who used to work at the airport called Lantana a weird environment.
“They have a very small corridor to fly in and out of without having to talk to a controller,” said the pilot, who requested anonymity. “It makes it a very tight — and dangerous — environment. I’ve talked to other flight instructors who have said, ‘Oh my God, I would never fly there again.’ It’s like the Wild, Wild West almost.”
In several accidents at or near the airport, engines lost power when airplanes were just barely off the ground. Others never left the ground at all.
But the commercial pilot said you always had to have your head on a swivel at the airport.
“You never knew where planes would be coming from next,” he said. “I don’t know if the airport can really do anything. The Federal Aviation Administration would have to come in.”
Palm Beach County Commissioner Dave Kerner said he was raised near the airport and has received numerous complaints about the noise from helicopters.
“Generally, it’s very safe, and while crashes do happen, they’re very improbable,” he said.
Not everyone, however, is worried.
One 70-year-old, who has lived in Mar-Mak for 20 years and didn’t want his name used, said he’s not.
“Not at all,” he said. “Small planes fly over here all the time. They seem to be students who make circular paths.”
Victor Vigo moved to MarMak Colony about a year ago from Puerto Rico. He said he’s not concerned about plane crashes.
“You see the planes flying really low and it’s really awesome,” said Vigo, 20. “I have no concerns and it’ll be OK.”