A family was killed when their plane crashed in Central Florida, officials said.
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Small Plane Crashes Into Shallow Waters
A single-engine plane crashed into shallow waters 10 miles away from the Homestead Airport early Friday morning, but the three people aboard weren't injured, authorities said. Pilot Deavin Beattie and co-pilot Jeff Steinberg and passenger Dr. Todd Schwartz said they had taken their friend's plane and were going to have lunch in Key West when they lost power. They went through the steps to refire the engine, but at 6,000 feet they started to glide at 1,000 feet per minute.
A prominent businessman, his wife and their four children were killed Thursday when their small plane crashed into a swampy area of central Florida, officials said.
The single-turboprop, fixed-wing plane was heading home to Junction City from the Bahamas when it broke apart and went down about 12:30 p.m. in the Tiger Creek Preserve, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office in Florida.
"It's just a horrific loss," Junction City Mayor Pat Landes said.
Deputies reached the area by helicopters, but it was clear there were no survivors, the sheriff's office said. The cause of the crash wasn't immediately known, and parts of the plane were found nearly 3 ½ miles away, investigators said.
The family was from Kansas and were well-known in the community.
Ron Bramlage, a businessman in Junction City who owned Roadside Ventures LLC, was piloting the 2006 Pilatus Pc-12/47. The 45-year-old, his wife, Rebecca, 43, and the couple's children — Brandon, 15; Boston, 13; Beau, 11; and 8-year-old Roxanne — were killed.
The 4,900-acre Tiger Creek Preserve about 50 miles southwest of Orlando contains hardwood swamps, hammocks, scrubby flatwoods, pine flatwoods, sandhill and longleaf pine/wiregrass habitat, according to its website.
The crash site was only reachable by helicopters and all-terrain vehicles. The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation, which the Federal Aviation Administration said would take a long time. The family had stopped for customs in Fort Pierce, Fla., and had taken off a half-hour before the crash.
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