Neither of the plane’s tanks showed evidence of fuel, the National Transportation Safety Board said. The pilot died in the March 6 crash in the Dos Lagos neighborhood.
BOYNTON BEACH -- A small plane that crashed in a Boynton Beach neighborhood March 6, killing the pilot, likely took off from the nearby Lantana airport with its fuel tanks nearly empty, a preliminary report suggests.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board’s initial report, posted Wednesday morning, the single-engine plane’s two fuel tanks, one on each wing, both were ruptured but contained “no evidence of residual fuel” and that the crash site had no fuel smell and no browned grass, which would indicate a spill.
On top of that, the report said, the valve that switches between tanks “was devoid of fuel,” as was the engine-driven fuel pump. And the carburetor’s “float bowl” had only about two drops of fuel in it.
“Sounds like he took off empty. No fuel,” Dave Freudenberg, a former Boca Raton city commissioner and a longtime private pilot, said Wednesday of the report’s wording.
https://cbs12.com/news/local/plane-crashes-behind-home-in-boynton-beach-neighborhood.
(Update) Only the pilot was aboard, he has died from his injuries.
(silent squawk) Thoughts and prayers with the family
The Federal Aviation Administration has been notified and released this statement:
Local authorities notified the FAA of an aircraft accident this afternoon in the Dos Lagos area of Boynton Beach, Fla., involving a Grumman American AA-5 with only the pilot aboard. This is preliminary information, which may change during the investigation. We will update this statement when we get new information.
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — A plane has crashed behind a home in a Boynton Beach neighborhood Friday afternoon.
According to Boynton Beach police, the crash happened in the Dos Lagos community near N Congress Avenue and Miner Road.
Boynton Beach Police
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@BBPD
We have responded to a plane that has crashed behind a home in the Dos Lagos community. Media staging will be on Miner Road - there is an overpass in the 1400/1500 block. PIO headed there.
