Search Suspended For Victims Of LearJet Crash
FT. LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – The Coast Guard suspended it's search for two people Thursday who were on board a Learjet 35 which crashed off the coast of Ft. Lauderdale Tuesday night.
The bodies of two others on board the plane were recovered shortly after the crash.
As of Thursday morning 4,000 square miles, an area larger than Delaware, had been searched.
"So far we have recovered 1000 pounds of the aircraft, the aircraft weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of about 12-thousand pounds, so we believe there is a lot more of it out there somewhere," said Doss.
The Coast Guard said they picked up a large object near the original crash site on sonar, but dive teams have still been unable to find out if it is a piece of the plane.
"Because of the weather and currents we were unable to get down to find what exactly was down there on the ocean floor," said Doss.
An NTSB investigator has spent the last day trying to piece together the six-minute doomed flight.
"It's rare that we are responding to Learjet accidents," said Brian Rayner with the National Transportation Safety Board, adding that before the crash the plane "Travels out over the water and turn to the north as it climbs to 1800 feet. The airplane then continues in a northbound direction but begins a descent and it's not until the airplane has descended a thousand feet before it begins its turn to shore. Shortly after that the last radar target was 400 feet."
The Mexican registered air ambulance was Fort Lauderdale after dropping off a patient from Costa Rica in Broward County and heading home to Cozumel, Mexico.
Just before 8 o'clock Tuesday night the Learjet took off from Fort Lauderdale and almost immediately reported problems.
TOWER: "You are coming back to Fort Lauderdale."
PILOT: "We have engine failure. We're going to do a 180 and we are going to land."
They never made it. The Coast Guard, along with state and local authorities began a massive search.
Forty-five minutes into that search they found wreckage and two bodies.
The flight bound for Cozumel, Mexico was operated by Air Evac International.
In the cockpit, Jose Hiram Galvan De Lao and Jose Buendia Moreno.
It's not known who was behind the controls.
In the back was nurse Mariana Gonzalez Inzunza and Dr. Fernando Senties, a well known family doctor in Cozumel.
On his Facebook page condolences are pouring in. One patient wrote quote:
"No God, you cannot take such a good person like Dr. Senties, I pray this news is not true. Rest in peace my dear doctor."
Air Evac International issued a statement today. It said, "The plane had recently been inspected and had no mechanical issues. Family of those on board this fateful flight have been flown here to Fort Lauderdale."
